Redshift
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: [AU] In 1986 an accident at the Chernobyl power plant caused an overnight evacuation of the town, Pripyat. Vincent Law, an unfortunate citizen of the doomed town is left behind. However, this does not mean he is entirely alone. [Renamed, previously titled 'Jacob's Ladder']
1. Poisoned World

_Note: The majority of this first chapter was the combination of the original first three with one scene added to the beginning, several new narratives, and a few scenes added to the end of the chapter. I've decided to extend this story and in turn, bring it out of the long hiatus it was previously under. I have also changed the rating to M for language and disturbing scenes in the future. I do hope you enjoy this story, please leave your thoughts and all of that. If you do find this story enjoyable, then I would highly recommend my other Ergo Proxy work titled, Neo Europe._

* * *

**Poisoned World**

Vincent Law woke up to the sound of his rather obnoxious alarm clock. "Ugh," he groaned as he reached over and flipped it off. "Why does that thing have to go off everyday." Vincent was a scrawny individual, shy and often held his eyes shut to the world. It was only during rare occurrences in which he would open them, revealing they were colored a rather ominous, emerald green.

His voice was always oh so timid. With each word one would think his nerves were breaking just for the sake of breaking. He spent most of his time in his apartment, aside from his actual job which he was obviously required to attend a certain number of hours under Soviet law.

Vincent looked towards a side table and examined the date on his clock which read, '_4/28/1986_.' He sat up and ran his fingers through his black hair.

"Ugh," he began sickly, "I don't feel very well at all, today." Vincent paused in his thoughts as he looked towards an open window which was located on the wall on the other side of the room. He noticed a small black bird sitting in the window seal, staring at him. The crow tilted its head at Vincent which for some reason, gave the young man an uneasy feeling.

The two living entities stared at each other for what Vincent felt to be about 20 minutes. Although, in reality the crow watched him for only 5 seconds before it turned away and flew off into the sky.

Vincent shrugged and decided to resume his previous thoughts. "Come to think of it," he stated in a pondering manner just to get the previous scene out of his head. "I've been hearing that a lot of people in this town are getting sick. I wonder what that's about..."

He then stood up and walked out of his small bedroom. Vincent soon came to his living room. He headed over to a table on the far side of the room, just past an average set of red furniture, and turned the nob on his television.

Instead of the usual daily news, Vincent was immediately confronted with classical music being played over a blank screen.

He let out a long sigh and dropped his head as he knew what this meant, "I wonder what's happening now."

After a few moments a female voice rang out on the screen:

"_Attention, attention... Attention, attention... Attention, attention! Dear comrades, the city counsel of people's deputies informs that due to an accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant; in the city of Pripyat, an adverse radiation conditions evolve. Party and Soviet bodies, military units are taking necessary measures._

_However, in order to provide a complete safety for the people, especially for children, it is necessary to temporarily evacuate city residents to evacuation points in Kiev Oblast._

_In order to do this, to each apartment house today, April 27, starting at 2:00 pm... Starting at 2:00 pm... buses will be provided, escorted by Militsiya and members of the city's Ispolkom._

_It is recommended to take with you: Ids, basic necessities and foodstuff for the first time. Heads of enterprises and public offices have designated vital personnel who will stay to ensure normal functioning of the city._

_All apartment houses during the evacuation will be guarded by Militsiya. Comrades, while temporarily leaving your house please, do not forget to close windows and turn off all electrical and gas equipment, to close taps._

_Please remain calm, be organized and maintain order during temporary evacuation."_

Vincent froze and abruptly turned the television off.

He turned slowly and examined the alarm clock which read, '_1:51pm_.' "I was asleep for a long time," Vincent thought to himself.

He then gasped in a panic as he realized he would probably be left behind by the evacuation service if he did not leave soon.

"Uh," Vincent stated in a panic as he ran over to the gas heater but sighed as he realized it was already off. He then darted for the kitchen and unplugged everything in sight. He returned to the living room and quickly unplugged the television.

"I hope this doesn't last very long," Vincent informed himself with a hopeless expression. He then walked over to the front door and opened it up.

As soon as he did, Vincent was shocked to find the hallways desolate. Nobody was around, not even the military police that was promised on the radio.

"Oh no," Vincent said in a quiet panic as he slowly began walking down the hallway which was littered with papers and lost items. "Please tell me I'm not going to be stranded here."

Vincent continued down the hallway. He eventually made it to a glass doorway and opened it up, revealing a downward stairwell.

He came to another door which was nearly broken off of the frame. He pushed it open slightly which caused an unsettling creak, and Vincent stepped out to the new floor of the apartment complex.

Vincent took a look around, while he did this, the apartment door closest to his right side remained open. When Vincent scanned the left side of the room however, the door abruptly shut with a rather loud slam, which caused Vincent to jump.

"Hey," he called out, hoping somebody was on the other side of that wall. He practically threw the door open, but to his dismay, he realized that nobody was home.

"Hello," Vincent asked in slight disappointment. He searched the small apartment thoroughly, but nobody was home.

The lone soul walked out but as he did he noticed a digital clock sitting on a nearby table from out of the corner of his eye.

"What," Vincent asked, "That clock says its 3 in the afternoon. Maybe I should find another clock to compare."

Vincent stepped out of the ominous apartment and walked over to the door across from it. He turned the doorknob only to find it locked.

"Aw," Vincent began and walked to the neighboring door which luckily flew open when he pushed it.

Vincent stepped inside and walked over to an open window where a clock was sitting in the window seal.

He failed to notice several marbles lying scattered on the floorboard. When Vincent came close enough he slipped on one of them and tumbled clear out of the open window. He let out a shout as he slammed into the earth.

* * *

Vincent woke up some hours later. He got to his hands and knees and immediately noticed a pair of boots standing before him.

Vincent looked up to see a man with a rifle in hand. He had brown pants, a forest green tunic, and wore a gas mask with a swastika crudely spray painted over his right eyeglass.

"Well, hello there," the man began and extended a helpful hand. His voice was slightly filtered due to the gas mask.

"My name is Vladimir," the stranger continued as Vincent took his hand, "Vladimir Malikov."

"Hi," Vincent replied in a confused manner and stood up, "I'm Vincent Law."

"Are you alright," asked Vladimir while Vincent dusted himself off. "Yeah, I'm fine," Vincent replied quietly and rubbed his head.

"Are you sure," Vladimir questioned further with a tilt of his head. "You fell two stories, my man." "No really," Vincent declared, "I'm alright." "Whatever you say," Vladimir replied and shrugged his shoulders.

Vincent then took a look around and realized the streets were just as desolate as his apartment complex. "Where is everyone," he finally asked, "Did they leave?"

"Yeah," Vladimir chuckled, "I was apart of the Militsiya. Until those commie bastards left me out here. We evacuated the civilians a few days ago."

Vincent let out shocked gasp, "You mean to say that this all happened days ago!?" "Uh yeah, where the hell have you been," asked Vlad.

"I just woke up," Vincent said in confusion as he began to recall everything that happened. "My alarm clock even said it was the 28th." "Don't know what to tell ya," Vlad admitted, "But it sounds to me like that radiation must have got a hold of you and kept you asleep for a few days without realizing it. Damn, we need to get you some food and fast."

"Oh, actually I'm not hungry," Vincent informed with a dismissive wave. "I think I might have woken up at some point and eaten something."

Vlad thought on the possibility of this for a moment before nodding with approval. "Alright, that's good to hear," he stated. "Tell you what though, it's getting late and I need a few things to get dinner started..."

"Dinner," asked Vincent, "But what about the radiation?" "Vince," Vlad said with a solemn shake of his head. "The air we breathe is about 95% pure radiation. I don't think a diet shift will keep us alive."

"Then we have to get out of here," Vincent exclaimed as much as his mellow personality would allow. Vlad simply shook his head at this, "Sorry man. But there's no point. We've already breathed in so much of the stuff we'll probably kill over sometime this week as it is."

Vincent looked to the desolate and lifeless earth in defeat. "So," he began. "We just have to sit here and die?" "It really looks that way," Vlad admitted.

"But anyway," Vlad continued, "I was making dinner and it should be finished any minute. I'll go ahead and make something for you too." Vlad then tossed Vincent a flash light, and he was able to catch it on impulse.

"Okay," Vincent muttered, "Thank you. I think I'm going to take a walk though. Just to see if anyone else is still here."

"Go ahead, but hurry back," Vlad said in a darker tone. "This place gets creepy at night."

Vince nodded and walked off. Vlad turned away and looked up to a Soviet flag the flew high over the desolate city. He sighed and started in its direction.

* * *

Around fifteen minutes later, on the other side of the town. A young woman with black hair, blue eyes, blue eye-shadow, while wearing an all black outfit was sitting in a parked car.

She wore a gas mask over her face but regardless, she was already feeling nauseous. "Ugh," she groaned to herself. "I have to get out of here soon. I just want to take a look around."

She stepped out of her car and walked on ahead down the lonely streets. The woman remained oblivious to the fact that Vladimir was watching her from the shadows. He knew she was a government official due to the emblem on the right side of her car.

"Hmm," he stated quietly as she disappeared from his sight. "Maybe I should _greet_ her."

* * *

Vincent made his way to a shopping mall. It was already rather dark out, so much so that when Vincent stepped inside the building, he could not see anything that was more than a foot away.

He then remembered the flashlight Vlad had given him.

He took it out of his pocket and turned it on. The light soon shined bright inside the quiet, and very lifeless building.

Vincent walked forward, nearly tripping over a box on his way, and entered the main room of the building.

He shined the light around and caught a glimpse of a shadow moving around in the corner of his eye. Vincent turned to the right, allowing the flashlight to illuminate the area.

"_Hello_," Vincent called out, and while no answer came he could hear audible footsteps ahead.

He sighed and cautiously followed the sound of the disturbance. Eventually, Vincent came to a narrow hallway. He slowly walked down it and quickly came to a closed door. Strangely enough, Vincent could clearly hear the sound of a piano being played from inside.

There was no other place he could go except backwards so Vincent pushed the door open. "Is someone there," he asked as he poked his head inside yet nobody was around.

"What the," Vincent said with a scratch of his head in confusion. He could see a piano on the opposite side of the room but nobody was nearby to be playing it. "Did I just imagine the music," he inquired further.

Vincent turned around to leave the room but as soon as he did he jumped after seeing a little girl standing just a few feet ahead of him.

She had odd purple hair, gray eyes, and what stood out most from her strange appearance was the fact that she was wearing a pink, rabbit costume.

"Hi there," she said cheerfully which allowed for Vincent to lower his guard. "Uh, who are you," he questioned. "My name's Pino," she replied with a widening smile.

"Pino," Vincent asked and the girl nodded reassuringly. "My name is Vincent," he informed. "Vince huh," she asked curiously.

"Did you get lost or something," asked Vincent, "Is that why you're still here?" "No," Pino replied with a shake of her head. "I came in here after everybody else left. I'm was to find my dad, but after awhile I gave up and came here."

"I see," Vincent stated and looked to the ground, knowing her relatives were probably either dead, or had somehow gotten separated from Pino and were long gone from the radiated city.

"So, why are you still here," Pino inquired. "I'm here by mistake," said Vincent. "Then can I come with you," asked Pino. "Uh... sure, I don't see why not," Vincent replied hesitantly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the woman in black was exploring an apartment complex when she had finally decided she had seen enough and walked out the front door.

Once as she did however, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and fell to the ground. After a few moments she looked up to see her pistol had slid out in front of her, and a pair of boots were standing only a few feet ahead.

As the woman reached for her weapon Vladimir simply kicked it away. The woman then looked up to face him.

"_Greetings, comrade_," Vlad stated before hitting her again with the stock of his rifle, knocking her out cold.

Vincent returned to Vlad's campsite with Pino skipping around him. Vlad was sitting on a bench and looked up to them curiously. Dusk had already befallen the abandoned city.

"Who's the little one," he asked. "Her name is," Vincent began but was cut off. "My name is Pino," the girl informed.

"_Okay_," Vlad said slowly and returned his attention examining the pistol he had taken from the woman he had knocked out earlier.

Vincent looked around for a moment with a hopeless expression. "Now, what do we do," he asked with a long sigh.

"You can start by eating something," Vlad replied and pointed to the building behind himself. "I put your food in there. If you don't eat, you'll make your death a much more painful one."

"I suppose you're right," Vincent replied before walking over to the building's entrance.

* * *

Later that day, the woman from Moscow was still in the same place she was just before being ambushed by Vladimir. Her name was Re-L Mayer, and she had finally woken from her unconscious state with a minor headache. She moved around to find herself in a sitting position, tied to a streetlight.

She struggled for a bit and noticed that the ropes were poorly tied together, and she eventually broke free. Since nobody was around; Re-L acquired the feeling that the purpose of her being tied up was only to cause her to die of exposure.

Re-L stopped her movements for a second and examined her surroundings. "Ugh," she began in disgust. "This place is beyond creepy."

With that said, Re-L returned to her squirming and eventually the ropes came loose. She pushed them off of herself and immediately jumped up.

"I'm gonna kill that freak," she growled. The loud sound of a metal trash can tumbling over, then rang out from behind.

She quickly whipped around and placed her right and to her waste, but gasped to feel her pistol was not in it's holster.

"Dammit," she groaned, "That idiot took my pistol too?" Re-L rolled her eyes and looked around once more, just to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was lurking somewhere.

Re-L let out a long sigh once she realized nothing was around. She then decided to head over to the back entrance of a nearby building.

She stopped just before she opened the door after noticing a small crack in the glass that covered her left eye. "I guess there's no reason to keep this thing on," Re-L informed herself as she took her gas mask off.

Re-L threw it on the ground and opened the door before stepping inside the complex. While Re-L could have left the city of Pripyat completely. However, because the gas mask was broken, she knew her fate was already sealed. She might as well have a look around.

Re-L walked around carefully, so she would not to trip over anything in this very dark room. It was too dark inside to see what the room was actually used for but Re-L was not too concerned with these minor details.

She carefully maneuvered through the room, luckily not tripping over anything, and soon came to an open hallway. Re-L then heard voices to the room furthest down the right hand corridor. She turned in that direction, and quickly noticed the lights were on behind the last door down that hall.

She approached the door cautiously and slowly pushed it open. Re-L then saw a young man sitting at a table in this large cafeteria. A little girl with purple hair, running in circles around him.

The little girl then noticed Re-L and abruptly ran behind the man's chair. "_Vince_," she stated nervously and pointed to the stranger.

Vincent looked up and slightly jumped at the sight of another person, other than Vlad, standing in the room.

"Um... _Hello_," Vincent stated nervously.

Before either of the two had a chance to further this encounter, several loud gunshots fired off from behind Vincent.

The bullets hit the wall to the right of Re-L who immediately retreated back into the dark hallway. Vincent jumped while Pino yelped in shock. Vincent whipped around in his seat to see Vladimir aiming his assault rifle towards the area where the woman in black was previously standing.

"Damn, I missed," he groaned and lowered the rifle. "What are you doing," Vincent questioned but he was ignored.

Vladimir proceed forward in a casual walk. He had already disarmed Re-L and had originally intended for her to starve to death after he tied her up. He stopped about halfway in between the table Vincent was still sitting at, and the side hall Re-L had used to escape.

He turned and looked back over his left shoulder. "She's a communist, Vincent," Vladimir informed. "I'm just going to kill her before she get's the chance to stab us in our sleep."

Vladimir then left the room completely, walking calmly while he followed the sound of Re-L's fleeing footsteps.

Vincent soon stood up after processing this information. Pino remained in the same spot she was in after hiding behind Vincent's chair.

"Hey, wait," he pleaded and ran after the two.

* * *

Re-L darted back outside of the building to the same place she was originally ambushed by Vladimir. "Shit," she murmured and looked around frantically for a way to lose Vlad's trail.

Re-L then heard another blast fire off from behind and she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her arm, just below her left shoulder.

She grasped her arm and turned around, sure enough, Vladimir was standing off in the distance with his rifle calmly aimed in her direction.

Re-L tried to back away but only succeeded in tripping over a random stone on the ground and falling backwards.

"Alright, commie," Vlad sighed with boredom. "See you in Hell..." Before he could fire a fatal shot at Re-L he was cut off.

"Stop," Vincent called out. He then ran past Vlad and stood off to the left of Re-L. "Are you crazy," he asked in the sheepish voice which seemed to be the standard tone for someone like Vincent. "I'm killing a communist," Vladimir replied with a shrug of his shoulders and slightly lowered the rifle.

Vincent glanced over his shoulder to examine the wounded woman on the ground. He slightly blushed and turned back to Vladimir. "Maybe we can let this one go," he asked timidly.

"Why would I be so stupid as to do that," questioned Vlad. He seemed completely opposed to the idea of allowing this person to live.

"She already has a reason to kill me in my sleep," Vlad argued. "We might as well keep ourselves safe for the short time we have left on this earth."

Vincent thought for a moment quietly on a way to convince his new friend to spare the stranger. He then realized he would need to say something quick as Vladimir abruptly raised his rifle once more.

"What if," Vincent abruptly announced which caused Vlad to look in his direction, yet he did not lower the weapon. Vincent paused for a quick second to figure a proper way to word this proposal of his.

"What if I take her and Pino back to my apartment and take full responsibility of them? And if she starts acting suspicious," he elaborated but halted his compromise.

Vincent glanced back to Re-L who was scolding him harshly from the ground. "Then you have every right to shoot her," Vincent concluded. "Excuse me," the woman in black questioned with slight anger in her tone.

"Hey, shut the hell up," Vlad ordered. "This man is trying to help you out, show some respect." Vlad would not be incorrect by this statement, although he could not quite figure out why Vincent was making such a fuss over the whole conflict.

He then turned back to Vincent and lowered his weapon while he visibly relaxed his stance as well. "Alright, Vince," Vladimir finally announced with a tilt of his head.

"If you want this cockroach to live, then so be it. But if I catch her doing something I don't like," he began and Vincent nodded agreeably.

"You'll shoot her," Vincent concluded. He looked back over his shoulder after saying this to see Re-L had seemed to calm down as well. While she still held her arm due to the obvious pain of being shot, she looked as if she had an expression of content on her face.

She remained quiet and switched her attention to the two of them as they continued the conversation.

"That's right," Vlad confirmed. He silently grabbed a green strap which was connected to the bottom of his assault rifle and wrapped it around his right shoulder. Vlad then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of pliers before tossing them to Vincent.

The young, timid man tried to catch the pliers, yet he failed and they landed at his feet. "If your going to keep her alive," Vlad began. "I would start by getting that bullet out of her arm."

With that, the former Militsiya troop walked back into the building, completely ignoring Pino, who was spectating the whole event through the entrance.

"Um," Vincent said hesitantly. He slowly scratched his head as he turned around to finally face the person, whom he had just saved from his newly found friend, who apparently has an appetite for communist blood.

"What was the purpose of that," the stranger on the ground asked coldly. "Why should you care if your friend over there, kills me or not?"

Vincent grinned in a pathetic attempt to hide the fact that he had no legitimate answer to the question. Instead, he quickly thought of a way to dodge it. "My name is Vincent," he informed. "Vincent Law."

He then proceeded to help the wounded woman on her feet. "Re-L," she said with a scold plastered on her face, while she still held her arm tightly. "Re-L Mayer."

"Oh," Vincent remembered as he noticed Pino standing just on the edge of his peripherals. "This is Pino. Vladimir, uh the man who was just trying to kill you that is... And I, we found her roaming around the town earlier today."

"Hi," Pino announced quietly. She remained slightly hidden behind the wall of the building's entrance and scolded Re-L for whatever reason.

* * *

A short time later, and Vincent led both Re-L and Pino back to his apartment. Re-L had finished changing into her nightly wear. The area on her left arm where she was previously shot had already been wrapped in white bandages.

She stared into the mirror for a short interval before a thought suddenly came to mind. "I'd better get to know a little bit more about the people I'll be dying with," she told herself.

Re-L originally had no intent to stay in the city of Pripyat. However, due to her gas mask being broken for God knows how long, not to mention the amount of radiated air she had already breathed in. It seemed to her now, just as it did to Vladimir and Vincent that there was no point in leaving. The radiation would still kill them 5 or 10 years down the line. Until then, they would have to suffer with whatever sicknesses may fall in between.

She then let out a defeated sigh and walked out of the room. Re-L stepped out into the living area where Pino had fallen asleep on the couch while an old Soviet propaganda film played on the television.

Re-L suddenly remembered that Vincent went to return the pliers to Vladimir. She also remembered that Vincent had left her dinner on the dinning table which was positioned off in a side room near the kitchen, towards the left side of the apartment.

She walked over to the table and took a seat in front of the bowl Vincent had already laid out for her. Re-L sighed to see the bowl was filled with an odd, green dressing while beans floated at the top in a meaningless yet rather specific pattern.

Re-L rolled her eyes as she reached for a spoon which was sitting off to the side. She picked up but stopped herself as she noticed a black object out of the right side of her peripherals.

She turned and adopted a surprised expression to see a black crow standing on the edge of the table. Re-L leaned away slightly as she was clearly taken aback by the unexpected sight. Re-L then glanced off to the left where she noticed a window wide open.

"That explains how you got in here," she announced quietly. The crow tilted its head at the black haired woman.

Eventually, Re-L became irritated that this bird was interrupting her meal, no matter how undesirable it seemed to be in her eyes.

"Shoo," she ordered and waved her hand in the bird's direction. To Re-L's surprise however, the crow did not fly away in fear when she did this. The black bird did not so much as flinch, and even seemed completely unfazed by the experience. To Re-L's horror, she could have sworn she did not even see the crow blink when she did this.

Re-L quickly shrugged off the occurrence and abruptly lunged for the bird. This caused the crow to finally panic and fly out the window, disappearing into the night.

Re-L let out a relieved sigh as she sat back in her chair. "Perhaps it was just the radiation," she told herself. Re-L then proceeded to eat the dinner before her.

By the time she finished, Vincent had still not returned which led Re-L to assume Vladimir must have held him up for some reason or another.

She then became vaguely curious about her surroundings. It was her dangerous curiosity that brought her here in the first place. Even though it was late and other than Vincent's apartment, the building was pitch black and dead quiet.

"I'll just take a look around on this floor," she told herself. "Maybe I'll find Vincent out there as well."

With that in mind, Re-L stood up and headed over to the front door. For some reason, ever since she arrived to this ghost town, she had felt uneasy. Re-L felt perfectly fine in Vincent's home, completely due to the fact that the lights were on, a television was breaking the ghostly silence, and there was a small group of people around. One man who hated her, one little girl who was neutral with her at the moment, and one timid young man who had already acquired an obvious crush on her.

While Re-L was not an easily frightened person, say for exception, an odd occurrence like the one involving that crow only a few moments ago. She was still very susceptible to atmosphere. The world outside offered a terrifying atmosphere. While there had been no mass graves dug near the city or any other cliche event similar to the aforesaid; an abandoned town like Pripyat would cause anyone to check their corners.

Re-L grabbed the knob on the front door and opened it up, which produced an uncomfortable creak.

She leaned out in the hallway and narrowed her eyes to try to see past the darkness before her. "Maybe I should wait till morning to explore this place," she said as a chill came down her spine. It was cold in the outside hall, the outfit she always wore to sleep in was also not helping.

Re-L's train of thought halted as she noticed a shady figure walking down the hall towards her. "Vincent, is that you," she questioned firmly while trying her hardest to see who this person was. The sight definitely caught her off guard at first.

"Yes," a familiar and timid voice called back. Soon enough, the figure stepped into the light which flooded out from behind Re-L to confirm that this was in fact Vincent Law.

Re-L crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as she noticed that stupidly nervous grin on Vincent's face.

"What are you doing out here," he asked. "Nothing," Re-L replied. The two quickly stepped back inside to further the conversation, leaving whatever gave Re-L and even Vincent an uneasy feeling, out in the cold of night.


	2. Amusement Park

_Note: Here's an interesting little story for you all to think about when reading this chapter. Towards the end, when I was writing out Re-L's major scene, I minimized the window to do something else while I was in mid sentience. When I returned to finish that scene however, I saw the phrase "Kill me," written with the full dialogue punctuation._

_This most definitely happened because I was writing so much today that I started typing in phrases unconsciously. I sometimes do this repeatedly, deleting old lines and writing in new ones before snapping back to reality but it's still a creepy little story._

* * *

**Amusement Park**

Vincent woke up early the next day. He had fallen asleep on a recliner while Pino slept on the couch, and Vincent had given Re-L the bed.

The green eyed young man stood up, still wearing the same red suit he put on yesterday, he looked over to see Pino was gone.

He adopted a confused expression as he was not expecting Pino to have just up and left. Vincent then turned and walked towards the bedroom. The door was slightly open yet Vincent still knocked rather lightly.

"Um, Miss Mayer?" After waiting a few minutes he pushed the door open to see Re-L was gone as well. The bed was empty, the blankets indicated she must have woken up not fixed the bed before she left.

Vincent then noticed a note that was left on one of the pillows. He walked forward until he was in range of the bed and grabbed the paper. Vincent held the note up for closer examination. The note read:

"_Vincent, I wanted to explore this town a little bit more today. That little friend of yours, whatever her name is, decided to tag along. Meet me at your town's amusement park when you wake up. I have a few questions regarding the lay out of the city._

_~Re-L_"

As Vincent finished reading the note he allowed it to slip from his hands and float back down to the bed below, not too far from where he originally found it.

He then left the room and proceeded to find something to eat and take a proper shower. He could not remember much of the events of yesterday. Vincent had no idea why, he tried to recall what happened just before he met Vladimir. His memory was perfectly clear up until that point of waking up outside of his apartment building.

Vincent could not quite place exactly how he ended up face down on the concrete. He also barely remembered hearing the evacuation announcement on the television. Of course, the only thing he knew about the announcement was that the civilians were being escorted out of the city due to some sort of problem that happened at the Chernobyl Power Plant.

None of the less, Vincent quickly brushed off the unusual occurrences that have unfolded after the city's abandonment and swiftly proceeded to ready himself for the day.

* * *

Meanwhile, Re-L was walking through one of the empty streets below. She was traveling on the left hand sidewalk. Pino had already taken off ahead and had left Re-L's sight not too long after the two exited the apartment complex. Re-L could care less however, as Pino was not her responsibility.

The weather outside was rather pleasant. A blue sky was present above, the air was cold yet the heated sun glaring down on all below kept Re-L from shivering.

Re-L continued to wander aimlessly through the town like a ghost that roamed around an unsuspecting home for no real purpose.

She then stopped at a random area of a sidewalk. A boarded up store was positioned behind her, to the left. On the right side of the black haired woman lied an old wooden bench that looked slightly out of place.

"This is ridiculous," she finally said quietly, although even her mumbling was able to break the radioactive silence that loomed over the Ukrainian city called Pripyat.

Re-L then abruptly turned around and looked down the path she had previously walked across. "This town can't be this confusing," she told herself as she turned back around to face the supposed direction of her actual destination.

"I should have found the amusement park or any other sort of notable landmark by now," she informed nobody and resumed her walk onwards.

She walked for a few more meters before something struck her train of thought.

"Come to think of it," Re-L stated subconsciously as she came to yet another stop and scanned the surrounding area ahead with narrowed eyes.

"What ever happened to that child? She was here just a moment ago, not that it really matters but she is a local, or at least I think she is. Surely she would know how to get to the park from here."

Re-L continued to scan the abandoned buildings in front of her. She would occasionally see shadows moving behind open windows, but she was not too bothered with what seemed at first glance to be random and natural lighting effects.

She then turned her head towards an alleyway just a few feet ahead of her. After a few moments, Pino ran around the corner and into Re-L's peripherals, while Malikov casually strolled in from behind the little girl in the rabbit costume with his hands in his pockets, and rifle strapped to his back.

"Hey kid," Re-L announced which caused Pino to turn to her direction and Malikov silently scolded her from the distance. He was still wearing that gas mask he had on the day before. Although, he had already told Vincent he did not intend for the mask to keep him alive at any rate; so there was no clear reason as to why he still wore it.

"Oh, its you," Pino responded with a pouting scold as she clearly did not like Re-L in the least, and the same could be said vice versa.

"Take me to the amusement park," Re-L ordered. "I would like to visit it today." She was only exploring the town at this point to pass some time between now and the grave she was metaphorically digging for herself. Re-L had originally come to Pripyat to explore the city. Now that her gas mask had broken thanks to a certain Militsiya troop, she really had no other choice but to share the slow and probably painful death that awaited the other few people in this town.

"I can't," Pino replied smugly before crossing her arms in a firm manner and looking away. Re-L raised an irate eyebrow at the young girl. "What did you just say," she questioned. She was not at all use to being denied something, especially not by a child.

After a few brief seconds of Re-L scolding Pino, Vladimir took halfhearted pity on her. "The park is straight ahead. Four or so blocks down the road and you'll see it."

Re-L nodded and proceeded forward, past both Pino and Vlad who in turn, continued about their day.

* * *

Vincent walked over to the front door and nearly came within range of the doorknob before he decided to take a few steppes back and take a seat on the couch.

He stared at the blank television screen for a few moments and turned to the left. He then noticed that in the window seal at the back of the room, stood an old crow.

For a moment this bird did not ring any bells. However, as soon as he squinted his eyes and tilted his head, he abruptly started to remember

"What is it with this bird," Vincent asked as he now recognized it as being the bird he saw when he first woke up yesterday morning.

He finally stood up and approached the bird slowly as to not frighten it off. The bird reluctantly did not fly off, but rather watched him as he soon made his way out of the living room and into the dinning area where the window was actually present.

Vincent slowly leaned forward and examined the bird. It abruptly squawked at him several times, which caused Vincent to step back. The bird then began flapped its wings rather aggressively but eventually settled down.

Vincent then approached the bird once more. This time it simply looked around the room, seeming to have lost interest in him.

He noticed the bird had sky blue eyes, as apposed to the normal crow or raven, who usually had solid black eyes.

The crow soon became bored with the scenery of Vincent's rather mundane apartment and decided to take its leave. As it abruptly flew out the window, Vincent jumped slightly, not expecting the bird to fly off so suddenly.

"Hmm," Vincent thought to himself quietly. He watched the bird fly off into the sky which looked rather innocent at first glance. But Vincent then remembered the announcement he heard yesterday about Chernobyl's meltdown. This meant every inch of sky which lied just out of his reach, but was home to the bird; was now completely toxic.

It was only through unexplainable luck that the radiation had not taken his life yet. While Vincent did not remember being slightly nauseous yesterday, he was feeling just fine today. That detail in combination with the fact that Pino, Re-L, and Vladimir were all acting healthy as well.

In the case of Pino, Vincent assumed she was behaving like a normal 9-11 year old girl would. The radiation could not have affected her yet. However, this fact did not sit well with Vincent as he was also currently under the assumption that due to her small size, she would be an easy target for the radiation. Of course, Vincent did not realize that he was technically confusing nuclear radiation with a disease or bacteria, he seemed to have no clue how it worked.

As far as Re-L was concerned, although she and Vincent had not spoken very much since she arrived. It would seem she was in perfect health too, other than the bullet wound in her arm, that is. She showed no signs of being weakened. And while Vincent had not actually seen her today, she did not look sick at all.

Vladimir, for the short time that Vincent had known him, seemed to be acting normal also. While he was definitely irritable and rude to the people he did not like, such as Re-L; Vincent assumed that was just his personality.

Then he suddenly came up with the notion that the radiation could be affecting them on a mental level. Vincent allowed this train of thought to run for a few moments before it quickly derailed into oblivion immediately after Vincent gave up on trying to figure out the nature of radiation.

"Oh," he groaned and intentionally collapsed and luckily landed into a nearby chair which had conveniently not been pushed back under the table. "This is confusing," he told himself. "I don't even know what symptoms to look for. I'm sure it doesn't matter now though... I guess I have to wait until I start feeling sick. Maybe when it finally does get to me, I'll be sleeping," he hoped.

Vincent then thought of something that quickly took his mind off of wondering how the radiation would go about killing him. "If Vladimir was left here when the evacuation happened," Vincent began subconsciously. "Then maybe he knows a little about radiation. I think he said he was part of a liquidation team as well. I'll have to ask him the next time we see each other."

Vincent waited there in the chair for a little while longer. His mind soon refocused on the idea of how he was going to end up dying. He kept worrying if it would be a slow death; hopefully; that would not be the case.

* * *

Vladimir walked over to a bench which was positioned on the right side of the street. He took a seat while Pino sat down on the ground next to him. Vladimir looked up to see the parking lot he found Vincent lying in yesterday.

This was presumably Vincent's home, and Vlad would not be incorrect with that assumption. Vlad let out a long sigh as he leaned forward and took out his assault rifle. He placed it in his lap and began the rather tedious process of unloading the weapon. He had heard far too many stories of careless people who would end up shooting themselves when cleaning their weapon. As a result, Vlad was overly careful when it came to these types of tasks.

Pino looked up to try and figure out what he was up to. "Vlad, what are you doing," she finally asked with a tilted head.

"I'm about to clean my weapon out," Vlad informed without breaking eye contact from the metal object in his hands. "I bet its pretty filthy right now."

He then abruptly pulled out the magazine and tossed it to Pino, who caught it on impulse. "Here, hold that for me," he stated and resumed his work. "And don't lose those little bullets inside," he stated after abruptly remembering that Pino would probably end up dropping a few in the street gutter.

Pino began searching through the magazine, taking out a few of the bullets for closer examination.

Vladimir, now certain there was no bullet in the chamber and no reason for the weapon to fire, he began the disassembling process.

After a few moments of silence, he heard a voice in the distance. "Hey, _Vlad_!" Vladimir looked up to see Vincent walking across the parking lot and towards him.

"Problem," Vlad questioned as he returned his gaze downwards once more. "No, I just had a few questions," Vincent informed.

"Hi Vince," Pino greeted while she tossed one of the bullets in the air, only to allow it to fall back into her palm where the process resumed.

Vincent smiled and closed his eyes cheerfully. "Morning Pino," he greeted and returned his attention to Malikov.

"If you're looking for that goth, commie friend of yours, she went to the amusement park," Vlad announced.

"I know," Vincent replied as he scratched his head. "I was actually about to go and meet her there." "Good for you," Vlad replied with obvious sarcasm in his tone.

"Well," Vincent began timidly to try and refocus the discussion. "I was wondering if you could tell me about the evacuation, and maybe what happened in Chernobyl?"

Vlad let out a long sigh as he began to think of a way to properly tell the story. "Well, I was sent in to help evacuate the people and assist in the liquidation process. Reactor 4 in Chernobyl had a melt down. All of the radiation started flowing this way. We were able to get all of the people out, but there all as dead as us. They'll just have to suffer for another few years."

Another question then came to Vincent's mind as he adopted a curious expression. "Where is Chernobyl? It isn't walking distance is it?"

"If you consider walking all the way to the Kiev Reservoir as walking distance, then sure it is," Vlad replied carelessly. "Its really that far away," Vincent asked in slight shock.

"Well," Vlad corrected as he realized he may have over exaggerated on the distance. "Chernobyl is about halfway between here and the reservoir, but that doesn't mean you'll get there on foot, Vince."

Malikov then halted the process of wiping the barrel of his rifle with a napkin to look back at Vincent. It was always unclear what Vladimir's emotions were as his tone of voice did not do a good job of portraying them. Reading his facial expressions were also impossible thanks to his gas mask.

"So, why do you want to go to Chernobyl all of a sudden," Vlad inquired abruptly. "Do you just want an easy death?" "What, no," Vincent tried to retort but Vlad simply continued.

"Because I can guarantee you," Vlad interjected as he resumed work on his weapon. "You wont find it at Chernobyl. It may be a quick death, but it wont be painless."

Vincent sighed as he could not find the right thing to respond with. "Uh, thank you for your time, Vlad," Vincent finally stated.

"No problem," Vladimir replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, Re-L had finally located the amusement park in the center of town. There was an average sized, yellow Ferris wheel just ahead of her. It already looked like a lost artifact from an ancient civilization, even though Re-L knew there were people riding on it, not but a few days earlier.

She crossed her arms uncomfortably and looked up to the sky. Re-L lifted her eyebrow as she was surprised to see the day had groan significantly darkening. It was still no where near midday yet, but storm clouds gathering above already made it look like the late evening.

"Hmm, I didn't even notice that," she told herself. "I'll make this fast and try to get out of here before any rain starts falling."

With this minor goal in mind, Re-L walked forward, her arms still crossed in that uncomfortable manner. After a few steps however, Re-L suddenly tripped over a random object and fell forward. She was able to stop the fall partially with her hands, yet still managed to end up on the ground.

"Shit," Re-L growled and looked back to try and find the object guilty of this horrid crime. Re-L's eye twitched in irritation to see a little doll a child must have abandoned during the evacuation.

Re-L abruptly kicked the doll as hard as she possibly could from her current position, none of the less, the doll still flew a good distance away.

She slowly pushed herself back up into a sitting position. "Ugh, could this place be any more infuriating?" Re-L finally stood back up and shoved her hands into her coat pocket, brushing off the incident, she carried onwards to the center of the park.

The woman in black soon came to a stop at the foot of the Ferris wheel and followed it to the top with her eyes locked in an eternal scold.

She could not help but feel slight pity for the inanimate object. Its only real purpose was to bring joy to a small town called Pripyat during a certain time of the year. "I bet this nasty thing use to be the only attraction to this miserable town," Re-L said with cynicism. "Now, it's just as dead as the rest of this filthy place."

Re-L huffed and shrugged her shoulders before moving on. She walked off to the left and headed over to an empty swing set.

The seats on this particular ride looked more like a boat than an actual swing. She then suddenly kicked the nearest swing just to see how it operated. It swung backwards just before gravity began readying itself to send the little swing to move forward.

"Cheap," Re-L thought. "But, what should I have expected from such a small town. A population of only 40 to 50 some odd thousand. Now, a population of 4."

Re-L rolled her eyes to show her lack of amusement to the town. She walked off and headed towards another ride.

This one was a large mechanism that Re-L simply could not recognize. She examined it for a moment to try and figure out what it was exactly used for. There were several wooden benches which were suspended by ropes that were also tied to the metal machine above. "This must have been one of those... things that spin you around really fast," she stated in her mind, not have the slightest clue as to what this ride was actually called.

Re-L then turned around and looked towards a treeline off in the distance where she noticed an odd detail. There was a very dark shadow on the front side of one of the larger trees. This made no logical sense as the clouds in the sky blocked the sun out completely. Even if the sky was clear, it was early in the morning which means the shadow should be facing the opposite direction.

"What on earth," Re-L asked herself as she slowly approached the shadow. Re-L soon came close enough to confirm that the mass of darkness was not a shadow, but she could easily see a third dimension to this particular spot, meaning it was actually a deep hole in the ground. How deep, Re-L could not say for certain.

It was large enough for the average sized person to fit in, especially someone as slim as Re-L was. She leaned down and peered inside curiously, but to no luck as this hole was more like an empty space, completely devoid of light.

"Oh," Re-L said aloud as she just remembered she had luckily brought something extremely useful with her. She reached into the right pocket of her dark purple pants, and pulled out a yellow flashlight. It was of only a small portable one but at least it would provide vision for Re-L, where it was definitely needed.

She pressed a black button on the top of the flashlight which caused the bulb to immediately flicker on. She then shined it down the hole and to her surprise, it was a little deeper than she originally thought.

The hole went downward, and the light extended as far as it could. The light itself reached a good distance due to the hole being so enclosed, yet Re-L still could not see past a certain distance.

"What the hell," she asked in slight shock. Re-L then noticed a glimmer on the side of the hole that was nearest to her. She tilted the light to get a better view of the object which turned out to be a rusty old ladder. A ladder that descended straight down.

"How deep is this thing," she questioned further. "Is this suppose to be some entrance to an underground maintenance area?"

Re-L slowly placed a hand on the first leg of the ladder. "Should I," she asked, signifying there was a difficult question rattling around in that bitter mind of her's. Re-L sat their for probably around 5 minutes, which felt more like 15 to her, as she tried to debate on following the ladder or staying above ground.

Chances are, it would be a waste of time and lead to nowhere. On the other hand however, Re-L considered the possibility that there might be something interest down their. She also considered just how suspicious a sight like this was.

"This thing is so out of place," she told herself aloud. Re-L would not be wrong, why on earth would their be a hole leading apparently to oblivion randomly out in the middle of this amusement park.

Re-L then thought for a moment on the odds of finding something like this. A hole which would seem like a natural feature to the earth if it did not seem so artificially dug and a ladder was not built into it.

Re-L finally sighed with content. "I guess the only way I'll find out what it is, and why its here, would be for me to climb down and see for myself."

She leaned forward with her left hand still on the first leg of the ladder, she prepared to climb down into the hole. Before she could however, Re-L gained an ominous feeling that now may not be a good idea. She looked back up to the sky and felt a raindrop hit her cheek. A wind suddenly picked up and blew past her rapidly before settling down to a breeze which was still rather noticeable.

"If I'm going to do this," she thought to herself. "I'd better hurry and get back up to the surface before the storm starts. I don't want this ladder getting to slippery on my way up."

Re-L let out one more sigh before she moved inside the black void that led to God knows where. Re-L locked the flashlight one of the clips on her belt for ease of access. She planted her feet on one of the lower legs, and grabbed a hold of the side rails before allowing herself to slide downwards.

After the first 2 or 3 minutes with no end in sight, Re-L could feel her hands beginning to heat up from the friction. Since the ladder had visible rust on it, she decided to play it safe and switch from sliding, to climbing. The last thing she wanted, was a case of tetanus on top of the massive amounts of Radiation she must have been breathing in.

Yet another 15 minutes would pass before Re-L abruptly stopped her climbing in an attempt to catch up with her exhausted breath.

"This is impossible," she hissed. "How the hell can this hole be so deep!? There has to be an end somewhere."

She looked over her shoulder, her flashlight still hanging from her belt, illuminated a good distance but it revealed no end to this seemingly endless void.

Re-L then looked upwards and grabbed the light before shining it in the direction she was looking at, yet she could not see the sky. Heavy rain started pouring from the top rather suddenly. This both relieved and Re-L at the same time.

On one hand, she was at least pleased to have such an interaction from the surface. On the other hand, Re-L knew climbing up would prove a challenge indeed.

"This isn't real," Re-L admitted to herself as she released the flashlight, and at the same time, came to the realization that she had been following this ladder for the better half of 20 minutes and no end was in sight.

"This is impossible," she continued. "I-I think I'm dreaming."

Re-L then had an idea. She carefully removed her right hand from the leg of the ladder she was currently holding on to, and pinched her left wrist.

Before she had time to react however, a bright light abruptly surrounded her, and Re-L's thoughts went blank.

* * *

Vincent had arrived at the amusement park some time ago, and found Re-L lying on the ground with a small doll at her feet.

This was the same area where Re-L had tripped. He spent a good amount of time trying to shake her awake and she eventually opened her eyes and sat up.

A slight panic hit Re-L at first but calmed herself once she realized where she was. "What the hell just happened," she asked aloud, not noticing that Vincent was sitting next to her.

"You were sleeping here on the ground," Vincent informed which caused Re-L to jump slightly before she turned and noticed who was in the park with her.

She paused for a moment and looked around, thinking of a first question to ask. "What was I doing when you found me here," she asked, clearly not listening to his previous statement.

"You were passed out on the ground," Vincent repeated. "I think you might have tripped on that doll over there," Vincent continued as he pointed to the child's toy at Re-L's feet.

Re-L followed with her eyes to the area where Vincent was gesturing to, and sure enough, there lied the doll. Re-L slowly let out a relieved breath to see that she was dreaming. The only thing she could not understand, was the fact that when she pinched her wrist, she could have sworn she felt a sharp pain before waking up.

"Did you try to pinch me awake," she asked abruptly as she turned to him with a serious expression. "Uh, yes," Vincent said as he scratched his head nervously. "I tried to shake you awake for around 20 or so minutes. But you wouldn't move so I was trying to think of different ways that might wake you up."

Re-L nodded, signaling that she heard what he had said and quickly turned around. She searched the area for that treeline she had seen in her supposed dream and sure enough, there was the tree she had dreamed about.

There was no endless black void at the foot of the bed, but there was something in its place that made Re-L open her blue eyes wide in shock.

On the ground where Re-L had thought she saw the hole, there was a small step ladder randomly sitting under the tree. There was no reason for it to be there, and it led to nothing. None of the less, it was there.

"Why is that ladder over there," Re-L questioned. Vincent found himself caught of guard by the question. He even opened his eyes just to search for what she was talking about, and eventually spotted the average ladder which was probably used for a small construction project of some sort.

"Um, I don't know," Vincent replied. "I'm sure they were using it to set up some lights before the evacuation... _Maybe_. Um, why do you ask?"

"No reason," Re-L responded as she turned back to him. "Come on," she ordered. "A rainstorm is about to hit, we should probably get back home."

Vincent stood up and offered a hand to Re-L. She being the stubborn person she was, simply pushed herself up on her own.

"Okay," Vincent sighed in his usually whiny way. "Lets go warn Vlad." "Alright. And what happened to that little girl," Re-L questioned back.

Vincent scratched his head for a moment, trying to remember where he saw her last. "Oh," he finally stated while pointing a finger in the air. "She was with Vlad."

"Great," Re-L replied as she crossed her arms. "Do you know where they are?" "Last time I saw them, Vladimir was cleaning his gun and Pino was playing with some of the pieces. They were at a bench just outside of our apartment. They should still be there."

Re-L nodded with approval. "Well, lets hurry then. I'm getting hungry too."

Vincent walked off, leading the way back to the apartment, and the last place they saw Vlad. Who was indeed still there, cleaning out his weapon. This was mainly the case because somebody had to look after Pino after all.

Re-L watched as Vincent walked away. She then slowly turned back to the tree off in the distance.

The same tree she could have sworn she had seen some bottomless pit in. A bottomless pit she in turn tried to explore, but it was obviously all her imagination.

She gave herself one last look at the ladder under the tree, marking it as a spot she would need to investigate further, just because that dream felt oh so real.


	3. Phase I

**Phase I**

Night was currently looming over the old ghost town. That same, rather aggressive storm had not so much as taken an intermission since it had started late yesterday afternoon.

Re-L had seemed to have claimed Vincent's bed indefinitely. Pino was growing more fond of the sofa, and Vincent slept on the reluctantly comfortable recliner. Tonight however, Vincent was unable to fall into a dreamworld of any sort.

He was too focused on the sound of rain assaulting the earth. After awhile of listening to static noise of rain that had become so familiar to him, it was replaced by the sound of whistling winds. The wind could even be heard from the hallway just outside of Vincent's apartment door.

After a few more minutes to around half an hour, Re-L suddenly leaned over from behind Vincent's chair. His eyes widened as he was not expecting to see her looming over him so abruptly.

"Vincent," she stated and tapped him on the head rather aggressively. "I know you're awake," she informed, able to see his bright green eyes with ease even in the pitch black of the living room.

"Re-L," Vincent asked tiredly as he sat up and turned around to face her. "What the hell is that outside," Re-L questioned and stood upright before crossing her arms.

Vincent narrowed his eyes while thinking of what she might be referring to. "Are you talking about the storm," he asked and Re-L nodded. "Why is it so windy," she questioned.

"Maybe, it's just a really bad storm," Vincent guessed with a scratch of his head. Re-L raised an eyebrow of slight disbelief and tilted her head curiously. "I don't think so," Re-L finally replied. "it sounds like it's coming from all around us. Lets take a look."

Vincent then looked over to Pino who was still sleeping heavily on the couch. "What about Pino," he asked. "We should at least tell her where we're going."

"We'll only be gone for a bit," Re-L informed coldly. "She can take care of herself." Vincent gave Re-L a rather odd and hard to read expression. "She's just a little girl," he reminded.

"It's fine," Re-L retorted. "Now get up." With that Re-L pushed herself away from the recliner while Vincent proceeded up.

The two then faced the front door where the wind seemed to be whistling past on the other side. The sound of the violent wind was still surrounding the apartment, and as a result, Vincent and Re-L felt their as if that was all they could hear.

Re-L stepped forward before abruptly stopping in her tracks. She turned back to Vincent with a puzzled look on her face. When she noticed Vincent was not even paying attention to her, she turned back towards the front door.

Re-L then led the way to the door and Vincent followed her. She grabbed the knob slowly with her right hand. She then unlocked the latch just above the knob with her left hand and pushed the door open.

A huge gust of wind immediately flooded into the living room. Re-L and Vincent moved an arm in front of their faces simultaneously to try and block the assaulting winds.

Re-L raised her hand only a small distance above her eyes and they quickly widened after she noticed a familiar object in the distance.

On the wall on the other side of the hallway, was an old, rusty ladder. Re-L looked to the top of the ladder to see that it ended at the ceiling. She slowly followed it to the floor where she spotted a hole in the ground, just below the ladder where it led in to.

"What's going on," a voice called out from behind, just before Re-L had the chance to inform Vincent of what she was seeing.

The two turned back to see that Pino had woken up and was using the couch to shield herself from the wind.

"Pino, stay there," Vincent called back. As he said this, Re-L returned her attention to the ladder. "Get back inside, Vincent," she ordered after noticing that both she and Vincent were standing in the hall, just adjacent to the door frame.

"What," Vincent questioned in confusion but Re-L only grew impatient by the reaction. She quickly dragged Vincent back inside by the shirt collar, and shut the door behind them.

"This is just a dream," Re-L said subconsciously. "I wonder what's going on," Vincent asked aloud but Re-L ignored him as she continued to think to herself.

After only a few moments, the wind suddenly blew the front door back open. Re-L immediately whipped around while Vincent slowly turned as he was more confused by the loud noise than shocked like Re-L was.

The wind eventually caused door fell off of the frame and off down the hall, going completely out of sight. Once the door had left the peripherals of Vincent and Re-L, the wind abruptly came to a quick halt.

Re-L lifted an eyebrow as her eyes rested back onto the ladder. She stared at it for a good 5 or so minutes. Re-L now had a feeling the ladder was almost challenging her. She had intentionally shut the door just to ignore it, and a violent, _indoor_ wind tore it off the wall.

There was no explanation for any of this happening. That ladder was not there when Re-L had first arrived, nor when Vincent first moved into the apartment building. This only enforced the notion in Re-L that she might be dreaming.

None of the less, she still took the tearing down of the door as a challenge. She was now more interested in seeing where this ladder truly leaded.

"So, that's how this is going to be," she questioned, not realizing she said this aloud. "What are you talking about, Re-L," Vincent questioned.

Re-L ignored him but was still slightly taken off guard that he had asked about something she thought she was saying subconsciously.

With a stern expression, Re-L raised her right arm and pointed towards the ladder. "I'm getting dressed," she abruptly announced and turned to Vincent. "You are too. When I get back we are going to see where that ladder takes us."

"Ladder," Vincent asked as he glanced back to the area Re-L was previously pointing to, and sure enough, a ladder was planted along the wall ahead. "Since when is there a ladder over there," he asked with a curious scratch of his head.

"I saw it before," Re-L informed. "Save your questions because I have no answers. I'll tell you what little I know when start climbing down it."

"Alright," Vincent responded with a nod. "Are we going somewhere," Pino interjected from behind. She had finally poked out from her hiding place behind one of the armrests on the couch.

Re-L glanced to her before walking off towards the bedroom. "You're staying here," she stated and left the room completely.

"Don't be like that," Vincent nagged and smiled at Pino. "You can come with us." Re-L only ignored Vincent's disapproval as she closed the bedroom door tightly.

Vincent sighed and walked back over to the chair. He sat down and laid his head back to the ceiling. Pino ran up to him while she occasionally exchanged glances around the room. Occasionally looking to the ladder.

"Vince," she asked after a few moments. "_What_," he groaned in a tired response without so much as moving his head.

"Where does that ladder lead," she asked obnoxiously which was not helping Vincent's exhausted mood.

Vincent sighed but that of course, did not stop Pino from blabbering on and on without even so much as taking a breath. "Do you think it leads to Vlad's house? Maybe it leads to another town! Or maybe it leads to a..."

Pino abruptly stopped speaking as she turned to look at the ladder in excitement and wonder. She was silenced however, when she noticed a small figure dancing on the ground in front of the hole in the floor where the ladder leaded.

"Huh," Pino asked with a lifted eyebrow. Vincent was not paying attention to her, he was almost on the verge of returning to sleep.

Pino squinted in that direction and even though the apartment and hallway were equally dark, she was able to make out the figure as a small doll. Pino watched as it danced around on the floor, this dance was only the doll bouncing up and down lifelessly. Another odd detail, was an audible humming that could easily be heard from inside the hole behind the doll.

The little girl in the rabbit costume then tilted her head as she took notice in a hand that was wrapped around the doll. The arm lead down into the hole. Whomever had their hand wrapped around the torso of the little doll was obviously controlling its dance moves and making the humming sound.

The hand kept bouncing the doll up and down, and would occasionally shake it to resemble a cute little dance. After a few moments of repeating the same process, the hand suddenly dragged the doll back into the dark void from whence it came.

For some reason, Pino became excited at this otherwise morbid sight. Indeed, still too young to understand the ambiance to see that this sight should probably be more upsetting than amusing; Pino was now motivated in the idea of exploring whatever realms that ladder might lead to.

Pino then turned to Vincent with a wide and even more excited smile. "Vince," she asked and began jumping up and down impatiently. Vincent was still on the edge of sleep but Pino's incessant nagging finally aroused a response. "_Hmm_," he asked and turned away from her in his chair.

"Did you see that doll," Pino asked with the utmost enthusiasm. Pino waited for a response to come from Vincent's lazy and dreary lips, yet no such thing came about. She then crossed her arms in a pout. "I wanna go find the doll. Lets go, lets go," she said as she resumed her jumping up and down.

"Just wait for Re-L," Vincent finally replied. "She's changing now. After she's done, I'll go change and we'll go find it."

Pino obviously did not particularly enjoy the idea of waiting to find a toy she believed was rightfully her's.

Instead, she decided to venture out on her own. "Well," she began and kicked her right foot in the air slightly and bowed her head; signaling that she knew what she was planning on doing might end up getting her in trouble.

"I'll just go on ahead. You can come find me when you're ready," she suddenly cheered and ran off towards the still very widely opened, front door. This comment, as loud as it was, seemed to go right over Vincent's head.

Pino ran out in the hall and over to the edge of the black void that surrounded the ladder. She examined it for a moment to see if she noticed any sign of the doll. After only a split second of looking down the hole of darkness, she spotted a tiny little spark of light, far, far down the void. It disappeared just as quickly as it came, but Pino was still able to spot it rather clearly.

"Hey, come back," she called out, thinking that the glistening object was the doll in question, although she could obviously not be sure, since it was so dark. Without giving any rational thought into the journey she would be undertaking such as, who on earth, was holding that doll in the first place; Pino simply grabbed a hold of the ladder, and began climbing down.

What Pino would truly find in that hellish pit was completely unknown. It was definitely unclear if there even was a doll given the haunting context of the current situation. However, one thing was clear, even to naive little Pino in a minor sense. She would either find one two things which were completely based on her positive outlook on the world. This would result in her finding serenity, or that one little doll, in an otherwise, empty world.

* * *

Re-L soon finished changing out of her nightly outfit and into her all black attire. She even brought her dark long coat this time for fear that the ghostly wind might pick up while they were venturing downwards.

The almost, or well... very Gothic woman noticed Vincent had fallen asleep on the recliner once more. She glared at him briefly, not really in the mood to fight with his tired state.

She then scanned the room for Pino, whom she had not yet seen since she entered the living room. Re-L soon came to the realization that she was nowhere in sight, and the front door was still open. She walked further into the living room and looked over to the dining area and kitchen, still, no Pino.

Re-L then decided to go ahead and wake Vincent up. She strolled on over to the right side of the recliner where Vincent was calmly and very soundly asleep.

Without so much as a warning, she plucked a hair out of his head. Vincent immediately sat up in a fright. "Ack," he exclaimed in a disorientated manner.

"Vincent," Re-L ordered while she looked down on him. Vincent slowly began to remember where he was and turned to face Re-L in slight confusion.

"I'm ready, go get dressed and be quick about it. I don't want to waste too much time here." "Okay," Vincent responded and finally forced himself to stand up. Before he could walk off however, Re-L stopped him.

"Oh," she reminded herself which caused Vincent to look at her in curiosity. "By the way," she continued. "I haven't seen that little girl around here? Where did Pino get off to?"

Vincent took a look around the room for a brief moment before returning his attention to Re-L. He adopted a puzzled expression as he was just as ignorant about the topic as Re-L currently was. "I'm not sure. She's probably hiding somewhere."

Re-L stared at him for a few moments which caused Vincent to turn away with slight embarrassment. "Fine," she finally stated. "You go ahead and get dressed, I'll see if I can't dig her out of her little hiding place."

"If you say so," Vincent replied with a nod. With that said, he headed off towards the bedroom and shut the door behind himself. Re-L, on the other hand, did as she had previously claimed and began searching for Pino.

She walked over to the kitchen and dinning area, as there were many cabinet in which the little girl in the rabbit outfit could use as a hiding spot.

Re-L came to a row of three cabinets underneath the kitchen counter. She knelt down and abruptly threw the middle one open. "Come on out," Re-L ordered. "We don't have time to play around."

She continued this little hunt for a good while before Vincent emerged from the bedroom in his usual, red outfit.

"I can't find Pino," Re-L admitted as she stood up and turned around. Vincent nodded to signify that he understood what she was saying. He then turned and looked towards the ladder.

"Do you think she could have gone down the ladder, already," Vincent questioned. Re-L simply shrugged her shoulders as she truly had no idea.

"That really seems like the only other place she would actually go," Re-L agreed flatly. She then promptly crossed her arms. "We'll just have to see if we find her while we're down there."

Vincent glanced at the ladder with a concerned look on his face. "We can't just leave," he retorted. "What if Pino comes back and finds us gone?"

Re-L rolled her eyes carelessly at his argument. "It doesn't matter. Plus, she's most likely already headed down that ladder. So, lets hurry up and get going or we might miss her."

Vincent sighed in defeat and allowed his shoulders to drop submissively while Re-L walked past him and towards the ladder.

The young, timid man in red quickly followed her and the two came to edge of the black vortex. Re-L reached into her coat pocket and took out her flashlight. She pressed the switch on top of the light which caused the bulb to immediately flip on.

After a few odd flickers, the light brightly illuminated the very dark hallway. Re-L then proceeded to turn the flashlight downwards, and shine it into the hole in the ground.

"What is this and why is it here," Vincent questioned. Re-L did not say anything for a few seconds but finally spoke out.

"I saw this thing yesterday. It was on a tree in the amusement park. It looked exactly the same as this. A ladder which only stood, maybe a foot above my head out of the ground, and led to a tunnel below. I actually tried climbing down it yesterday, but I could never reach the bottom."

Vincent scratched his head nervously at the comment. "How long were you climbing for," he questioned out of blatant curiosity.

Re-L let out a sight as she thought back to the amount of time she must have spent trying to climb down the ladder. "I must have climbed down this stupid thing for around 30 minutes." Vincent gave her a shocked look while she continued without paying attention to him.

Vincent thought on this while Re-L continued her explanation. "I could have sworn I was dreaming when I first found it," Re-L informed. She then strapped her flashlight to her belt, and reached over and grabbed a hold of the ladder.

She then began climbing down into oblivion, Vincent would swiftly follow suit. "I tried waking myself up," Re-L elaborated as the two descended further.

"The last thing I remember was waking up after you found me," Re-L concluded. She then looked down but did not halt her steady progression to the bottom... if there even was a bottom to speak of.

Unlike Pino, who's positive and innocent outlook would prove rather useful in the realm where the ladder was currently guiding them too; Re-L and in some ways, Vincent, were both rather pessimistic. Re-L especially, as she was a cold person. The ladder would soon prove it did not like such spoiled behavior and rude tendencies. As a result, the world below would prove to be an aggressive one to say the least.

As for Vincent, while he had some pessimistic tendencies but for the most part, he was a neutral person. He only wanted to survive as long as possible at this point. This would lead the realm below to treat him in a very neutral way.

* * *

After some time of Vincent and Re-L climbing down the ladder, their arms and legs were beginning to get sore. The two definitely tried to reach the end of this bottomless pit, but it seemed hopeless.

"How long have we been down here," Vincent finally asked as he came to a stop. Re-L looked up and halted her climbing as well. "It's probably been about an hour," Re-L admitted truthfully. Vincent groaned in agony, this task seemed hopeless; and that is not even mentioning the time and effort it would take them to climb back up.

Re-L looked downwards to see if her flashlight was revealing anything that might be of use to them, but still there was no visible end.

"Vincent," she abruptly announced. "Uh, yes," Vincent questioned with a timid tone of voice. "I have an idea," Re-L informed.

"An idea," Vincent asked and lifted his eyebrow curiously. "That's right," Re-L confirmed, while she spoke, she did not even notice that she was losing her grip on the ladder.

She removed her left hand from one of the ladder's many legs and pointed downwards. "If we were to slide down ever couple of meters and climb for another few meters. If we do that, I think we could get down their twice as fast, and not cut up our hands in the process."

Just before Vincent could so much as even formulate a response, Re-L completely lost her grip on the ladder and fell off. She let out a surprised shout as she fell down into the darkness. "Re-L," Vincent called out. He watched as her flashlight span wildly around, illuminating all sides of the tunnel as Re-L continued to fall.

Re-L's fall would soon come to a stop after Vincent heard a loud splash from below. He narrowed his eyes to try and find the glow from Re-L's flashlight. Eventually, he spotted it, about 20 meters down. From what he could see, Re-L had stopped falling.

"_Vincent_," she called out in between audible pants. "Re-L, are you alright," Vincent called back with concern.

"I'm fine," Re-L assured. "It isn't that much of a drop! Just jump down, but be careful because there's water down here."

Vincent sighed with relief. "Alright, I'm coming down," he called out but unlike Re-L's previous instructions, he decided to go ahead and climb down rather than blindly jump off.

His left foot soon landed on the last leg of the ladder. He halted all move meant as he lowered his right foot to locate a leg that might be lower than the one he was previously on but quickly noticed his foot being submerged in cold water.

Vincent then climbed slowly downwards into the water, until he felt solid ground. He released the ladder and stood up, the water only came up to his waste.

"Where are you," he asked loudly and scanned the surrounding area. He then looked directly ahead of himself to see a light off in the distance.

"I'm over here, Vincent," Re-L called back, her voice seemed to come from the same direction as the light.

Vincent began wading forward through the water to try and reach her. "I'm on my way," he announced over the sound of water rippling around him.

"Just be careful," Re-L ordered. "There's a drop off not too far from the ladder. I don't know how deep it goes."

The young man in red looked down, even though he really could not see anything below. He could occasionally see a glimmer on the water which was produced by Re-L's flashlight, but the water was not clear enough for him to see the ground.

He carefully moved forward, placing a foot in front of himself to feel around for the supposed abyss Re-L had previously spoken about.

Vincent then realized that there was no ground in the area he was searching with his foot. Vincent moved his foot back to its original position on solid ground and pushed off. He then proceeded to swim to the other side of this body of water. Although, it was not clear whether this body of water was an underground spring, or an ocean.

He soon spotted Re-L sitting on what appeared to be, dry ground. She was currently in the process of squeezing the water out of her hair when she noticed Vincent in the distance.

"Are we really below the water table," she asked as Vincent swam up to her. Vincent grabbed a hold of the rocky surface that Re-L was sitting on and hoisted himself up without giving a response.

Vincent then examined Re-L to see that she was even more soaked than he was. Her blue eyeshadow was almost completely washed off. Vincent thought this was peculiar due to the water not being that deep but he then remembered the drop off she warned him about. "I'm guessing you learned about that drop off the hard way, right," he asked with a nervous smile.

Re-L glared at him for a few moments before standing up and turning to face a tunnel that lead off into this underground world.

"Come on," she ordered. "And grab that flashlight. I'd like to see where this place leads." "What about Pino," Vincent asked as he took the flashlight from the ground and stood up.

Re-L glanced back at him for a brief second. "What," she inquired in slight confusion. "_Pino_," Vincent repeated. "You remember. We need to find her."

The woman in black nodded in consideration. "Fine, we'll see if we can't find her on the way." "That's it," Vincent questioned in slight bewilderment.

"What are you talking about," asked Re-L. She then whipped around and crossed her arms firmly. "We can't just leave her down here," Vincent argued.

Re-L rolled her eyes hopelessly and let out a long breath of annoyance. "I just said we would look for her, but we don't know how big this place is. If we can't find her, then I don't know what to tell you."

"I can't believe you," Vincent shrugged. Re-L rolled her eyes once more to demonstrate how much she sympathy she actually lacked.

With that bit of carelessness illustrated, Re-L walked off, bored with the current conversation. Vincent took one last look around, he tried his best to mark where the ladder was as it technically is there only known way of escaping.

He then followed Re-L down the dark corridor. The two kept walking for some time, Vincent held the flashlight out while Re-L eyeballed anything that may have looked even slightly suspicious. This was a pointless task however, seeing as how they were all alone.

Re-L then shifted her eyes upwards to the ceiling without halting her stride forward. She examined the corners in between the walls and ceiling before reaching an odd conclusion. "Vincent," she stated abruptly and completely stopped in her tracks.

Vincent only took a few steps ahead of her before he too came to a halt. He turned back to her curiously. "What's wrong?"

The black haired woman then pointed to the ceiling which naturally caused Vincent to look up as well. He shined the light up to the ceiling to gain a better view of what she was referring to. "Do you see how the corners are so straight," asked Re-L.

"Uh, _yeah_," Vincent responded which was accompanied by a clueless scratch of his head. "This doesn't look like a cave," Re-L informed, catching on to Vincent's confusion. "It looks more like a hallway or man-made tunnel."

"Okay, that's creepy," Vincent admitted. "But why does that matter? It's not like nobody is around or anything."

Re-L turned and scolded him as if he had just said something wrong. "Just keep a damn eye out, Vincent," she demanded coldly.

Vincent gave her a submissive nod and Re-L walked off. Vincent was about to follow her, but he stopped himself as he glanced once more at the ceiling. "Now, that she mentions it," he thought to himself. "This cave doesn't look natural at all."

"Are you planning on getting a move on sometime this year," Re-L's voice sounded off from ahead. Vincent then snapped back to reality and looked in the direction he heard her voice. "Sorry, coming," he called out. He then ran off to catch up with Re-L's dark figure in the distance.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pino was walking down a similar hallway. Where on earth she was at this point was completely unknown. One would think she was not too far ahead of Re-L and Vincent; but in actuality, she was no where near their general vicinity.

Pino could even scream at the top of her lungs at this very moment, yet the sound would still never reach either Re-L or Vincent.

As Pino explored the underworld she was now lost in, she discovered that it was not one single tunnel, but an entire network of caves.

Pino had made so many turns and twists that it would be impossible for her to find her way back. She could care less though, seeing as how she was on the verge of finding a new doll.

She came to the end of yet another hallway and looked around. "Hello," she called out. "Where are you!?"

An audible and familiar humming suddenly sounded off to the left of young Pino. She turned and noticed yet another side tunnel. Pino stepped over to the entrance of this tunnel and noticed it was not actually a cave of any sorts, but instead, a stairwell. Pino could easily see the end of the stairwell which did indeed lead to another tunnel.

Without a second thought, the girl in the rabbit outfit climbed down the stairs. She quickly arrived to the foot of the staircase and jumped down from the bottom step, into the tunnel.

Pino then looked off towards the end of the hall while the area to her left only led to a dead end about five feet away.

She noticed the tunnel was not that long, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough to make out an area where the tunnel made a right hand turn. Pino could also see a light coming from around that corner.

She ran forward until she cleared about three quarters of the tunnel's distance and stopped after noticing something dancing around on the floor.

It was that little doll that had tempted her to venture into the tunnels alone. She tilted her head to see the hand that was holding the doll, the same had before; although, at this point, Pino noticed a new detail about it.

The light from around the corner had illuminated the hand, revealing it was actually the hand of a skeleton's. The light also reflected off of the small area of the hand which was visible, giving the bones a green glow.

This morbid sight of course, did not faze Pino in the slightest. The skeletal hand then dragged the doll around the corner and out of sight, the humming fell silent in the process.

"Hey wait," Pino called out and ran off in that direction. She soon made it to the end of the corner and immediately turned right. As soon as her eyes focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, she was practically blinded and fell backwards into a sitting position.

She hid her face behind her arm for a moment. After her vision finally adjusted to the obnoxious light, Pino stood up and looked off in the distance. She was surprised to see that the tunnel she was in, led directly to the outside world. Indeed, only a few yards away, the tunnel seemed to break away, revealing a massive range of ice capped mountains with a clear blue sky.

To anyone other than Pino, this would be a flabbergasting sight. Since when was there a clear sky and huge mountain range under the earth's surface.

Even with this odd sight now before her, Pino only had one thing in mind. She immediately jumped up and down with excitement. "_Yay, snow!_"


	4. Lost in Chinatown

_Note: This is where the story becomes very 'acidic' as I like to call it. Keep in mind that I am a surrealist, and this is one of my first surreal stories. If I did not add the element of surrealism to Redshift, I feel like it would end up as being just another dumb horror story with nothing special about it._

* * *

**Lost in Chinatown**

Vincent stared blankly at the ceiling of the tunnel he and Re-L were now exploring. He seemed to have dozed off and now stared off into space with an absence of emotion on his face.

"Vincent," a slightly annoyed voice called out to his right. Vincent turned and sure enough, Re-L was scolding him from the distance while her flashlight illuminated the hall ahead. "Are you coming or not," she questioned with a lifted eyebrow.

"Uh, sorry," Vincent replied timidly. He gave one last glance to the ceiling before running after Re-L. She rolled her eyes and continued forward while he caught up with her. The two then proceeded to walk the rest of the way.

For a short while they continued their stride onward through this seemingly endless tunnel. They walked on until Re-L suddenly came to a stop. Vincent almost did not notice this and accidentally bumped into her. Luckily for him she was too preoccupied with whatever was distracting her to scold him for it.

"What's wrong," asked a rather confused Vincent. Re-L turned to him slightly and held her finger over her mouth. "_Shh_," she ordered quietly while starring at the ground, as if concentrating on something.

Her eyes finally averted to Vincent, "Do you hear that?" "Hear what," Vincent asked quietly, having absolutely no idea what she was referring to.

Re-L then slowly pointed off behind Vincent. However, she did not shine the flashlight in that general direction.

Vincent turned and listened to the sound of nothing. He could not hear anything at first but suddenly, his eyes opened ever so slightly as he could finally hear the sound Re-L was referring to. The sound seemed to resemble that of footsteps, or rather, a very hastily shuffling from down the dark corridor.

"Do you think it's Pino," Vincent questioned in a murmur. "Or maybe it's Vlad," he suggested with more hopeful eyes. If Vladimir was around, at least they would not be so vulnerable to anything that might be lurking in this dark world.

"No, that can't be," Re-L retorted. As the shuffling grew louder, Re-L could tell who or whatever was in the tunnel with them, was headed straight for the duo.

Re-L abruptly grabbed Vincent's wrist and darted towards the right hand wall of the tunnel. She then pointed the flashlight against her stomach, to prevent any light from escaping.

Vincent reluctantly got the hint and remained as quiet as possible. He and Re-L stood there and listened, trying there hardest to keep themselves from making any sort of noise.

Soon enough, that loud shuffling which now sounded more like someone was walking rather quickly through the tunnels was now right next to them.

The two remained perfectly still as they listened to the loud footsteps and what appeared to be, loud panting. They followed the sound with their eyes until it disappeared down the hall, in the same direction Vincent and Re-L were previously headed.

The sound of footsteps soon faded off into the background and after a short pause, Re-L placed her hand over the head of the flashlight, preventing it from lighting up the tunnel. She then slowly aimed it in front of herself and moved her hand. The light immediately flooded the tunnel, yet nobody was present. Re-L swiftly covered the light with her hand once more and turned towards the direction the person, or creature was headed towards.

She moved her hand and once more, light over took the darkness of the tunnel, yet nobody was present. Re-L covered the light before repeating the process, however, she still saw nothing but empty space.

She repeated this process one more time before finally accepting that the entity had left completely. She released the head of the flashlight, allowing it to illuminate the tunnel freely.

"Let's get going," she stated. "Maybe we shouldn't go that way," Vincent suggested nervously, obviously shaken by the encounter.

"That man was going somewhere," Re-L insisted. "Let's go and check it out." Vincent let out a nervous sigh as Re-L moved forward. "If you say so," he whined.

The two continued onwards, walking for what seemed to be another good kilometer, until they suddenly reached a dead end. It was as if the people who built dug this tunnel intentionally built a wall here.

"What the hell," Re-L asked aloud and shined the light around the stone wall that now blocked their path.

"This doesn't make any sense," Vincent announced from behind as he scratched his head curiously. "If there was a dead end here, shouldn't we have seen that person by now?"

Re-L turned to Vincent but narrowed her eyes as she saw something odd in the shadows to her right. She shined the flashlight in that direction and sure enough, there was a large opening that led to a downward staircase.

"Okay, now we know these caves aren't natural," Re-L informed, not taking her eyes off of the perfectly constructed stairs.

"This is so weird," Vincent stated with curiosity in his tone. "Maybe we shouldn't go down there. We should just find Pino and leave."

Re-L immediately turned to Vincent with a cold look on her face. "Stop being a coward," she demanded. "We're going down there. I want to know more about this place."

"Why is it so important? It's just an underground cave... _Artificial_, but still just a cave."

Re-L rolled her eyes at this, he clearly was incapable of seeing the point she was trying to make. "Do you even hear yourself," she questioned abruptly, scolding Vincent rather aggressively. She then held her index finger in the air. "We find a ladder that was randomly placed in the hall outside your apartment," Re-L began. "I don't remember there being a ladder that leads us 50 kilometers underground. Do you?"

"No," Vincent shrugged, allowing Re-L to continue with her little rant.

She then held up two fingers for Vincent to see, signifying she was now about to list her second piece of evidence. "We find a system of tunnels that lead to God knows where," Re-L stated firmly. "While we're exploring one of these tunnels, a man, an animal, _a monster_," she exclaimed with a shrug of her shoulders; not really knowing what to call the thing that they had previously encountered.

"Whatever it was, it was alive, it walked right past us. I could hear it breathing and I know damn good and well that you could too," Re-L accused before lifting her third and final finger. "We end up following the thing and find ourselves in front of a man-made staircase, and you tell me this is a pointless excursion? Keep in mind that this all happened before that little girl went missing."

She then promptly crossed her arms and waited for Vincent's response.

Vincent took a few moments to process this information, and suddenly reached a conclusion. "Pino," he exclaimed. "We have to find Pino!"

Re-L simply lifted an eyebrow at his conclusion. She stepped aside, making way for Vincent to take the lead down the stairs. "Then what are we waiting for," she questioned quietly.

Vincent glanced between Re-L and the stairs. He tried to check and see what was behind him but, without Re-L's flashlight aimed in that direction, he could see nothing.

With his head bowed nervously, Vincent proceeded downwards into the caverns below. Re-L followed him silently and the two soon reached the last step in the staircase. The two quickly stepped down, off of the staircase and into yet another tunnel that looked identical to the last. It however, did not seem endless such as the previous tunnel tended to be. Instead, Vincent and Re-L immediately spotted a reddish glow off in the distance.

Re-L moved on ahead but stopped in mid stride and looked over her shoulder to Vincent. "Come on," she ordered. "Let's go see what that light is."

"Um, okay," Vincent replied. He then followed Re-L towards the light. It would not be long until the came in range to see that the tunnel quickly came to a sudden end. They stepped out into a vast open area.

Vincent and Re-L stopped in their tracks after finally exiting the tunnel to see an underground town. Indeed, buildings lined the area, in fact, the red light that Vincent and Re-L had seen earlier was caused by a vast number of Chinese lanterns, strung up above every street. Strangely enough, the buildings were built in a very Oriental fashion.

The streets were constructed of cobblestone bricks, and the duo could clearly see that while lights were on inside the different rooms of the surrounding buildings, there was nobody else around. Not a soul in sight, yet this city seemed so well kept.

"What is this place," Vincent asked in amazement as he looked up to the sea of darkness which lied beyond the canopy of Chinese lanterns.

Re-L shrugged her shoulders in response. She would have said something had she not have been preoccupied by watching a nearby wind chime produce its little jingle on the front of a nearby store, to the right of Re-L and Vincent.

She found it rather odd that a wind chime would be able to sound off like that underground, where there is no wind.

"I don't know," Re-L announced. "Just don't think about it," she informed.

Vincent was slightly taken aback by this, he really did not understand what she was getting at. "What do you mean don't think about it," he asked. "There's a huge town right here, why would we not think about it?"

"Because," Re-L sighed as she turned away from the wind chime in the distance to face Vincent. "This place isn't making an logical sense," Re-L elaborated. "Trying to rationalize it, would just end up confusing you. Let's just keep moving."

Before the two could proceed any further however, an abrupt and extremely loud clap of thunder sounded off from above. Re-L looked up to the sky to see what had happened while Vincent nearly jumped out of his skin. Re-L was about to say something but was cut off as she felt a heavy rain suddenly begin pelting her skin. The rain quickly picked up, soon turning into a storm.

"What's going on," Vincent questioned loudly over the sound of the rain. "Shit," Re-L muttered to herself. She immediately began scanning the area for a means of finding shelter. She soon spotted a small restaurant to their left.

The door was open and the lights were on inside. "Come on," Re-L abruptly called out to gain Vincent's attention.

He looked over to her curiously, just in time to see Re-L wave him down before she ran off in the direction of the restaurant. Vincent chased after her and the two quickly made it inside. They both simultaneously stopped once they were the inside of the doorway.

The interior of the restaurant was completely empty. There was an open kitchen in the back area of the large main room where customers sat at a cluster of square, wooden tables that lined the area. On the left hand wall, near Vincent and Re-L was a row of booths positioned next to large, square windows on the wall.

"Where is everyone," Vincent asked quietly.

"It's obvious that we're the only two in this town," Re-L responded. She then noticed on the wall to the left of her, off towards the back of the room, was a stairwell that led downwards to an area below the actual restaurant.

"I'm going to check that basement out," Re-L informed and pointed towards the stairs. "You stay here and see what you can find," she ordered. With that said, Re-L walked off towards the stair well she was previously referring to.

Leaving Vincent alone in this ever so strange world. He turned around and looked out the door to the pouring rain that came from seemingly nowhere. While Re-L had told him it would be better not to think about such events. He simply could not help himself but wonder, just what sort of world were they in? It was clear the laws of physics did not apply here, with a rainstorm harassing an underground Chinatown. It was truly a peculiar experience for Vincent.

* * *

Meanwhile, Re-L reached the head of the flight of steps that would take her to the basement.

Re-L stepped down the staircase of the restaurant and soon made it to a metal door.

The door had a thick rectangular window on the right side but Re-L could not see anything past it. She soon gave up on trying to peep through the filthy window and pressed the panic bar until it made a 'click', and pushed it open.

Re-L then headed inside the room and immediately stopped to find a rather unexpected sight. The room was dark with only a few flickering lights to illuminate the center area. The floor was of white and black tiles, while the surrounding walls were of all white tiles. The back wall was separated in half by a green handrail that separated the standard white tiles which made up the bottom half; with an odd wallpaper which depicted a sunny beach that covered the top half of the wall.

However, this was not the most shocking scene in this room. Re-L kept her eyes on a large wooden cross that stood at the center of the room. The cross was taller than her but probably not much taller than Vincent if he were to stand next to it. Re-L scanned the cross with her eyes, and noticed that a human foot was attached to the left arm. The foot was organically attached to the cross and the toes were pointed downwards.

Re-L then noticed that on the right arm of the cross was a human hand, attached in the same way as the foot. The palm of the hand was facing the floor while the fingers were pointing off ahead to the wall, and like the foot, the hand was remaining perfectly still. It did not so much as move one of its dainty little fingers.

Re-L looked up to the head of the cross. There on top of the cross, and for no particular reason, lied a black fedora with a large purple feather hanging off the side of it. Re-L continued to scan the cross for any other unusual sights that might be hidden within it. She then suddenly noticed an eye at the very center of the cross. Where both wooden bars converged to form the age old symbol, there was a large human eye, staring right at her. It occasionally blinked at her. The color of the eye was brown like the cross it was attached to.

Directly under the eye, was a long stretched out, cord of human skin. The flesh remained perfectly still, as if, frozen in time. The flesh was stretched about a foot away from the cross. It was slightly curved upwards above the eye, it was twisted into knots at several points. At the end of the fleshy cord, was a large pair of puckering human lips.

Re-L simply could take no more of this upsetting scene. She quickly backed out of the room and closed the metal door behind her.

* * *

Back on the main floor of the restaurant, Vincent had not found anything of use. He soon gave up his search and walked over to a random, window-side booth. He did not pay attention to what was actually on the table until he had already taken his seat.

He then looked over to the window in order to gain a view of the happenings outside, when his eyes widened to see a manikin hand in between the salt and pepper shakers which was situated next to the window. The plastic hand was pointed upwards, the fingers aimed at the ceiling. The hand was suspended by a thin, chrome bar.

At the foot of the manikin hand was a silver platter. The platter was covered by a lid that prevented Vincent from seeing what was actually on the plate. Vincent however, really was not all that concerned with the mysterious platter. He examined the manikin hand for a few more moments before simply shrugging the unusual object off and looking out the window.

The rain had refused to stop plummeting to the earth. Vincent would occasionally catch a glimpse of lighting in the black sky. He kept watching it for only a second longer before he heard Re-L walking up behind him. He turned around with a warm smile to greet her, but that quickly faded as he noticed the paleness of her face.

"Hey, what happened," he asked with slight concern.

"Nothing," Re-L lied dismissively and took her seat in the booth next to Vincent.

She then looked over to the manikin hand but was not too concerned with it. This mere, out of place object paled in compassion to the previous scene she had just witnessed. She noticed the platter sitting on the table and looked to Vincent.

"Has that been there this whole time," she questioned and Vincent nodded. She returned her attention to the platter and reached for the handle on the top of the lid. "What is it," she asked but Vincent shrugged.

Re-L then grabbed a hold of the handle and lifted the lid, revealing a plate of live grub worms. The grubs were crawling around on each other and moving about the plate. They were piled onto one another like some demented delicacy. Re-L immediately covered her mouth with disgusted eyes and dropped the lid back over the mound of worms.

"What's wrong," Vincent asked in a shocked tone. Re-L dropped the lid too fast for Vincent to see what had grossed her out so badly.

She bent over the side of the table, eyes watering, and for a split second, Vincent thought she was going to throw up. Re-L finally took a deep breath and positioned herself upright once more, her cold composure now returning.

"Worms," Re-L stated. "There was a pile of worms inside that thing."

Vincent turned to the platter and examined it from a safe distance in his seat. "Really," he questioned and Re-L gave a positive nod.

Vincent shrugged but before he could make a response, he heard footsteps from behind. Re-L looked up in the direction of the front door while Vincent turned to see what was causing the disturbance.

Oddly enough, the two suddenly froze in place to see a man in a suit, with a typewriter in arms, standing just inside the doorway. The one disturbing detail about this man, was that he was not truly a man at all. While he wore a man's casual business suit, Re-L and Vincent could clearly see that he was in fact, a glowing green skeleton.

Indeed, instead of a fleshy face, the man had a skull, completely absent of skin and organs. His hands were also nothing more than green bones.

His suit was unbuttoned slightly downwards over his chest, revealing only a glowing green ribcage with no organs inside.

The skeleton's empty eye sockets slowly scanned the room and eventually fell upon the horrified Re-L and Vincent. They did not know how to react to such a sight. They simply sat their and watched the undead man with faces free of pigment.

"Well, hello there," the skeleton stated, his jawbone formulating a friendly smile. He spoke with a ghostly tone. He then tilted his skull curiously to see that neither of the two strangers were saying anything in response.

"You probably haven't seen me around yet," the skeleton continued and placed a bony hand over his chest. "My name is Radiation, it's a pleasure to meet you." He then pointed to Vincent who had not yet opened his mouth in reply. "You must be Vincent Law. The timid citizen who currently awaits his final demise."

"H-how do you know my name," Vincent stuttered but Radiation ignored him and instead, shifted his attention to Re-L.

"Ah," Radiation began and gestured to the woman in black. "You must be Re-L Mayer. The stubborn brat from Moscow who came to explore Vincent's hometown, before you too ended up in the same boat. I am so happy to make your acquaintance. I do feel the three of us have much to discuss."

"What are you," Re-L questioned in a murmur, but like Vincent, she was ignored.

"Re-L go and take a seat next to Vincent. I need to speak with the both of you," he requested. After a short hesitation, Re-L finally complied. She stood up and walked over to the other side of the table. Vincent scooted back towards the window and Re-L took her seat next to him.

With Re-L out of the way, Radiation walked up to the vacant side of the booth and sat down. He placed his typewriter on the table and silently began the process of setting it up. Radiation placed a piece of paper in the typewriter's printing mechanism, before placing his bony fingers on the keyboard and turning to Vincent and Re-L.

"Hmm," he pondered and returned his attention to the typewriter. He then typed out a few paragraphs on the page before finally placing his hands on the table and looking towards his two onlookers.

"So, how have these last few days been," Radiation questioned, as if he and the two in front of him were long time friends at a reunion.

"What are you talking about," Re-L questioned after a short pause. "How do you know are names? And just what the hell are you?"

"I'm going to ask you to show a little more respect," Radiation stated and held out an index in front of Re-L.

He then lowered his arm and took a deep breath, although, it was unclear why he would need to do this. Radiation was a skeleton after all.

Radiation suddenly turned to his typewriter and began writing out whatever he was working on. "Allow me to explain," Radiation began, knowing Vincent and Re-L must be very confused at the moment. "I have been writing a book, you see," Radiation continued.

"A book that describes three individuals with very different lives, who end up traveling together across a poisoned wasteland in a ship I have named the Centzon. These characters have their own goals for traveling with our protagonist, as they hunt for answers in a post-apocalyptic future. In this futuristic world, the air is not exactly healthy to breath as I have just previously said. As a result, even though I plan to have a happy ending, our heroes fail to see the poison they breath in, will eventually kill them. In short, my work is that of a tragedy. A tragedy in which you two are my lead characters."

He then pointed to Vincent who was remaining quiet as he was curious about where Radiation was going with his explanation. "Vincent Law, you are the protagonist of my work. I hope you don't mind but I've made several changes to your character."

"Changes," Vincent asked, and tilted his head in concern. "You're righting a book about _me_?"

"That's correct," Radiation nodded. "For starters, instead of you being just some cowardly, and whiny brat..."

Vincent adopted an offended expression upon hearing Radiation's rather insulting description of him. "Hey," he whined, literally proving Radiation's point. Vincent lowered his head into the tall collar of his red suit while Re-L seemed to be slightly amused by what Radiation was saying.

"I have decided that you shall be a more likeable character," Radiation declared. "Keeping that in mind, I think you will fancy the changes I made to you quite well. For one, I have given you these great powers, making you both a superhero, but on several levels, a monster. However, I still have not made too many changes to your actual personality. In fact none. You still are a whinny and insufferable soul who for some reason, fancies the girl to your right," Radiation said as he abruptly pointed to Re-L.

While Vincent tried to hide from the rather embarrassing details Radiation had openly stated, the glowing skeleton then turned to Re-L.

"I have not made any changes to your character," Radiation stated. "After all," he claimed. "Every story needs a character to hate and look down upon."

"Excuse me," Re-L questioned firmly, not exactly a fan of Radiation's honest insults.

"Yes, you're still a spoiled bitch," Radiation proclaimed heartlessly. "Who tries to manipulate Vincent's character into getting whatever you want. As a result, I feel you to be an antagonist in the story, rather than a supporting protagonist."

Radiation shrugged at the sight of Re-L's scold, not really caring about her opinion on the matter. He then turned to Vincent, who he felt should hear the next bit of information he had to offer. "Now," Radiation announced. "Onto the plot. In a city far..." Radiation paused as he forgot what he was reciting.

"What am I saying here," he asked himself in a mutter as he turned to the typewriter and examined the page filled with words. He then abruptly leaned back, his skull perked up in remembrance. "Ah yes! In a city far, _far_ away. A city with the designation of Romdeau, you Vincent, decide to flee after growing sick of persecution. You leave the city to find out that you are truly what I personally would like to call a _Proxy_."

Vincent listened to Radiation while Re-L had a curious look on her face. She was not at all concerned with Radiation's description of the story, but rather, something he had said earlier.

"You and a young girl named _Pino_," Radiation stated which did gain Re-L's attention. "Begin the journey by exploring the wasted earth around the city you once lived in. The city is tightly enclosed in a protective dome that keeps the fatal air out. However, you being a Proxy, and Pino being a type of companion android are able to survive the contaminated earth. Re-L on the other hand nearly dies, ugh, I should have killed your character right then and there but it would have been anti-climactic."

Re-L was definitely feeling insulted by Radiation's statement. She could now tell he did not like her at all, and Radiation had not problem in illustrating that with his explanations behind his little novel.

Vincent on the other hand, was slightly interested in what Radiation had to say. Although, now it would appear that Radiation had finished speaking. Vincent watched as Radiation returned to his typing in a silent and ghostly manner, acting as if he and Re-L were not even present.

"Uh, then what happens," Vincent asked but was cut off when Radiation suddenly held his hand out in front of his face.

"Enough," Radiation demanded with unexpected firmness in his tone. "I am still writing these next few chapters," the skeleton informed. "I shall not be spoiling it until they're finished. I will say though, I have already planned it out from beginning to end as I have already mentioned. It will turn out amazing. A beautiful work of art, and I shall call it, _Ergo Proxy_."

Radiation lowered his hand and resumed is aggressive and speedy typing. Re-L waited for a few moments. She had several questions and it took her awhile to decided which one she wished to start out with. "You said something earlier," Re-L finally informed with seriousness in her tone.

The green skeleton stopped his typing to give Re-L his undivided attention. "Hmm," he questioned and tilted his skull at her.

"You said something about this story being a tragedy," Re-L reminded. She would have continued had Radiation not have interrupted her.

"Oh yes, I do have plans to kill you off. All of you. So, what's the problem?"

"Well, you also said your name was Radiation," Re-L responded. Radiation nodded at this and allowed Re-L to continue. "So, when you say you're going to kill us off? Do you mean that literally?"

Radiation abruptly laughed at her ignorance on the subject, although, Re-L who had no sense of humor to begin with, did not think this was very funny. "Well of course, my dear," Radiation insisted. "That's my job. I am here to poison you to death in both the story of Ergo Proxy, and in this world. I will crush the both of you, suffocate you, and annihilate you. _However_," Radiation declared with a finger in the air.

"Don't think that I'll kill you tomorrow. After all, there is still so much we need to do. I need you two, and Pino to get to know each other. I want you to cry when the other dies. I want you to suffer first, then I'll kill you with sympathetic tears."

Radiation said these dark statements with seemingly innocent intent. Then again, his name was Radiation. It was simply his nature to kill people. He is one of the most toxic entities on earth, and used in nuclear warhead for a reason.

The green skeleton then turned to the platter next to him. "Ew, I wonder what's in here." He then grabbed the platter and pulled it close to him. Re-L shook her, telling him not to open it, but her warnings went unheard. Radiation lifted the lid from the platter, but shockingly enough, instead of seeing a pile of worms; a jellyfish was lying there on the silver dish. Re-L was stunned by the sight.

"How delicious," Radiation announced. He then reached for a napkin and placed it in his lap. He grabbed the proper utensils to eat the jellyfish, and started consuming his demented meal. Re-L watched as the meat from the jellyfish passed through the skeleton's non-existent throat and into his empty ribcage.

Vincent on the other hand, was not even paying attention. He was looking down in to his lap with a depressed expression. "Why can't you just kill me, now?"

Re-L turned to him with a cold stair, angry that Vincent was so easy to give in, to Radiation. She should not be surprised, Vincent was a very weak willed person, but she was still upset at this. Radiation on the other hand, abruptly slammed his hand on the table, causing the two to jump and immediately turn to face him.

"Don't tell me how to do my job," Radiation ordered. "You're lucky I'm being merciful. You'll be released from my grasp soon, but I shall have my fun in the short time that I have you."

"I'm sorry," Vincent replied, slightly frightened by Radiation's outburst.

The skeleton calmed himself and returned to his jellyfish meal.

"I have another question," Re-L announced. Radiation looked up at her, but his attention quickly shifted towards the left side of the room where the open kitchen was.

"I do enjoy the meal," he called out. Re-L and Vincent looked over, as they were curious to see who Radiation was speaking to. Sure enough, there was a manikin standing behind the kitchen counter. The left hand of the manikin's was raised in the air, as if, trying to wave; while the other hand was missing. The manikin had a snail crawling around on the right side of its face.

Re-L watched the manikin for a moment. She soon shrugged it off, however, but was creeped out at the idea it had been there the whole time and she was just now noticing it. "Vincent and I were exploring a tunnel today," Re-L announced, regaining Radiation's attention. "And we had to hide from someone who was roaming around. We haven't seen them since, do you know who they are?"

"Ew, sounds like you two ran into a lost soul," Radiation informed with a shrug of his skinless shoulders.

Re-L lifted a curious eyebrow. "Lost souls?"

"Yes," Radiation confirmed. "Lost souls are people who have come to this underground world. The world of the ladder as some people call it; and they get lost. When these people can't find there way out, they soon forget who they are, where they came from, and everything else. They are from then on out, known as lost souls. People who are constantly searching for themselves. They are extremely angry for some reason. If they find you, they'll kill you. Although, I have no idea why this is, so just be careful."

Re-L stared blankly at Radiation while Vincent had an equally horrified expression. "Where the hell are we," asked Re-L.

"Oh come now, princess," Radiation laughed. "If I told you anything else about the _world of the ladder_, there would be no wonder to this great adventure you, Vincent, and Pino are now embarking on; but in dear time, you will learn everything. Before I kill you, that is."


	5. Arctic Blast

**Arctic Blast**

Pino stepped out onto the vast snowy landscape that seemed to appear from out of nowhere. It completely contradicted the dark and humid tunnels she had previously walked through. There was a huge blue sky above, it was extremely cold, and the snow was rather deep as Pino nearly had to swim across the frozen landscape just to go from point A to point B.

Pino kept trying her best to navigate through the ocean of snow. She pushed her way onwards until a large and very heavy mound of snow lied in front of her. She came to a stop after simply not being strong enough to push it any further.

The girl in the rabbit's outfit, which was reluctantly keeping her comfortably warm, grew agitated and let out an annoyed groan. She then promptly proceeded to climb up the pile of snow she had accidentally constructed and soon made it to the top.

Pino looked out to the snow covered mountain range that lied before her. "Hmm," she thought to herself, not even caring about the illogical scene in front of her. "Where did that doll go," she asked aloud and scanned the surrounding area. "I just saw her," Pino insisted, already defining a gender for the doll.

Before Pino could think too much on this topic, the small pile of snow under her feet abruptly caved in on itself. Pino suddenly fell forward and let out a surprised shout. She tumbled downward against the snowy surface and rolled off of the mountainside, and into the air. Pino then finally fell to the ground, however, the surface of this area was more icy than snowy but it reluctantly did not hurt her, due to the fact that as Pino hit the ice, it seemed to cave in. This caused Pino to fall even further, into an tunnel made completely of a deep blue ice. She landed on the ground in a pile of both snow and broken ice.

Pino lied there for only a few minutes before abruptly sitting upwards and shook the snow and ice off of herself.

"That was fun," she said with a surprising laugh and stood up. Pino removed the hood of her costume and allowed it to fall off of her head as she began walking forward through the slippery cavern.

This underground tunnel of frozen water was rather large. One surprising detail about the tunnel was how well lit it was as opposed to the stone tunnels Pino had previously explored. This was probably due to the frozen water that made up the walls of this tunnel, collecting light from the sun which gave off a bluish-glow.

Pino then noticed that this large cave was actually headed for a downward slope. She noticed how slippery and how smooth the surface of the ground was and suddenly gained a rather amusing idea.

She sat back down on the ground and without a second thought, Pino pushed herself forward, causing her to slide rapidly through the tunnel, disappearing completely.

She allowed herself to slide downwards until Pino quickly took notice into a mailbox of all things. The wooden beam of the mailbox was positioned in the ice several meters down this slope. As Pino neared the mailbox, she immediately grabbed a hold of it to stop her sliding. Once gravity had died down and Pino was able to collect herself off of the ground, she began the process of standing up but quickly stopped herself.

Pino looked up to the mailbox as she kept hearing a light thud from within it. After only 4 more of these thuds, the little door on the mailbox flew open, and out came a human eye. The color of the eye was purple, and it was attached to the inside of the mailbox by a cord of blood veins. They eye began moving around, the pupil scanned the area while the eyelids continuously blinked in curiosity. The eye abruptly lit up as it turned downward and noticed a girl in a rabbit's outfit sitting at the foot of the mailbox.

Pino remained still for some time, not exactly sure as to how she is suppose to react to this completely unexpected sight. A frightened expression finally took place as this strange mailbox did seem to give her the chills.

"Well, hello there," a disembodied male voice asked from the direction of the mailbox as the eye examined Pino more closely.

With that said, Pino felt even more frightened by this creature and abruptly ran off down a small tunnel off to the right and disappeared around a corner.

"Ack, wait up," the mailbox pleaded as it tried to force the bottom part of its wooden post out of a thin sheet of ice. The ice soon broke off and the mailbox pulled itself out of the hole it had created. The wooden post strangely moved organically, bending as if it were made out of rubber. Another odd detail about the mailbox, was a human foot that was attached to the bottom of the post.

Once the mailbox had finally freed itself, it began hoping after Pino as quickly as it could.

Pino slowed her pace to a casual walk as she moved deeper into the tunnels, convinced that she had lost the trail of the little monstrosity after her. She looked around to the intersection of two tunnels which created four total paths she could take, including the one she had previously come from.

Now that Pino was alone, or at least for the moment she was alone, the girl began looking around to see if she could find the little doll she had originally been searching for. While she did not see the doll, or the mysterious hand that was puppeteer it, and at the same time, leading Pino off astray; she did however, find a very odd object encased within the walls of the tunnel behind her. She turned to her left to see a shady figure.

Pino tilted her head and squinted her eyes until she realized what she was looking at. There in the ice was a jester wearing the usual clown make up and brightly colored clothes that one would expect.

Another odd detail about the jester was a flute in his left hand, and a long pole in his right with a plate balanced atop of it. The jester remained frozen in the ice with a smile forever locked on his face as if time simply stood still for him, and in many ways it did.

Pino looked down and to her surprise, the jester was sitting on top of an elephant. The elephant, or rather, the mammoth was frozen along with the jester in a still frame.

"Hello," she asked and knocked on the glass several times but to no avail. "Hello? Mister," she continued yet nothing happened. However, as Pino walked away, the jester's eyes seemed to follow her. Pino did not notice this and promptly moved on.

* * *

Meanwhile, Re-L and Vincent were finally walking away from the table in the little restaurant in which they had previously met a skeleton that called himself Radiation.

Radiation was still sitting at the table, typing away on his story that he had titled,_ Ergo Proxy_.

The two headed for the exit which would lead them back onto the dark streets of this creepy Chinatown they were now trapped in. Re-L led the way before she abruptly came to a halt and turned to look at the glowing green skeleton who was still eating his jellyfish at the table. This caused Vincent to stop as well and exchange glances between the two of them.

"Hey, Radiation," Re-L called out which caused the skeleton to look up to her with curiosity in his empty eye sockets.

"What can I do for you," asked Radiation in a very polite manner. While his charm was rather deceptive; however, after everything he had previously said to both Re-L and Vincent, he was not fooling anyone.

"Do you know where Pino is," Re-L finally asked. This question did surprise Vincent as he did not think for one second that Re-L even cared if poor little Pino was alive or dead. In reality, Re-L could care less, but she at least decided to ask. Why she did, no one could really say for certain.

"Just go through that door," Radiation advised calmly and gestured with his right hand towards the doorway that Re-L and Vincent were already facing. "I promise you that she will be just around the corner."

Re-L gave a nod and walked through, Vincent quickly followed her and the two immediately halted their stride to see that as soon as they had stepped out of the restaurant; they were no longer in the ominous Chinatown, but a vast range of arctic mountains.

"What the hell," Re-L asked in extreme shock, her brain too fried by the initial sight to even have a hope of processing what was going on. This was completely unexpected as the door to the restaurant was opened wide and from the inside, one would clearly see they were still in the underground city. However, as soon as the two stepped outside, the environment changed before their eyes.

Vincent looked over to Re-L, and knew she was trying to rationalize this otherwise unexplainable sight. "Come on," he requested, snapping Re-L back to reality, or at least, this so called reality they were now trapped in.

"You said we shouldn't think about what's going on," Vincent reminded. Re-L immediately realized what he was referring to. He was right, Re-L did say that this world probably would raise more questions than it was good for, and have absolutely no answers.

"You're right," Re-L agreed firmly. "Let's just find Pino, and get out of here."

* * *

Back in the restaurant, Radiation was still typing way. Indeed, his story of what he would describe to be a 'comedic tragedy,' was still underway. Even though Radiation was definitely focused on his work, he could not help but stop his typing and look off to his left. He stared out the window in which the Chinese influenced town was still visible.

"Ah, speaking of Pino," he remembered with a declarative finger in the air. "As soon as I finish up here, I'll go and meet her." The skeleton then returned to his typing where he remained in that same position for about 15 more minutes.

He finished up the last few paragraphs on this current chapter he was working on, and pulled the page out of the typewriter. He placed it on the table, atop of a stack of papers that were already filled with words. Radiation would read over them later for corrections and to judge scenes and whatnot.

"Well," the glowing skeleton sighed as he stood up and fixed the top buttons on his dress shirt. He then stepped out of the booth and reached into his pocket. He took out what appeared to be several small, cobalt blue coins of an unrecognizable currency, and placed them on the table. Radiation then looked over to the lifeless manikin that was still sitting behind the kitchen counter, off in the distance. Radiation gave the wooden statue a silent nod before walking out of this demented restaurant.

* * *

Pino continued her walk through the winding tunnels of frost. She was only now beginning to feel the sting of winter weather after being exposed to it for so long. Her fingers and toes were numbing even from within her warm rabbit costume.

After a few minutes of walking even further through this seemingly infinite maze of ice, Pino came to a much larger tunnel and a more well lit one than the cave she was previously exploring. This cave had two side tunnels that broke off from the main cave about 15 yards ahead. The smaller caves were situated on either side of each other while the main cave that Pino was currently in, ran straight in between them and forward into oblivion.

"Hmm, which one should I take," she asked herself in a pondering manner. Unfortunately, Pino could not think too long on this as she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the right hand tunnel off ahead. She remained perfectly still as she listened to the footsteps which almost sounded aggressive. As they neared earshot, Pino could make out the sound of heavy panting as well. It was as if the person approaching her was tired, or perhaps, very angry; either way, this sound did indeed frighten Pino.

The young girl swiftly glanced to her left at the small tunnel she had just came from. She then hid inside of that tunnel and poked her head out to see if she could catch even a slight glimpse of who might be nearing the area she was now in.

"Vince," she questioned in a quiet and shaky voice. No soon did she say this, a shadow suddenly became visible on the ground just outside of the tunnel she was staring at. At the very sight of this shadow and the onset of the increasingly loud noises this person, or creature was making; Pino finally lost the courage to see what was causing all of the commotion and retreated back inside the tunnel from whence she came.

Pino turned around to go back down that tunnel but stopped to see something rather peculiar and very unexpected off in the distance.

There on the ground lied something that was definitely not present the first time Pino had come this way. A small open campfire was burning on the icy floor. This was a very illogical sight. For one thing, the ice around and underneath the fire was not melting. Another detail would be the fact that the fire was not burning on wood or anything of that sort, it seemed to be burning straight from the ice itself.

There was of course, one more detail about this little campfire that made it absolutely incomprehensible in it's very nature and reason for existence. There were two human arms, each extending the forearms out of the ice and into the air on either side of the campfire. The fingers looked as if they were clawing at the air for whatever reason. Pino could not see a person or any other entity encased in the ice below that would indicate where the arms were coming from. It would appear as if the arms were existing and moving without a body. While the arms themselves did not move, the fingers constantly tried to grab at something in the air.

Pino slowly approached this odd entity composed entirely of fire and human body parts but halted herself as she noticed something coming down a side hall that lied to the left of the tunnel she was currently in, just passed the fire.

Before Pino could react, that same mailbox that hopped on one foot and had an eye attached to the inside of the metal box came insight. "There you are," the mailbox exclaimed with a hopeful eye. "I hope I didn't scare you off back there," he continued but Pino was already adopting a more fearful expression.

She suddenly let out a loud shout and took a few steps back, completely forgetting that there was an even more frightening entity in the tunnel behind her. "Oh, don't be frightened," the mailbox pleaded, fearful that she might attacked unwanted attention, and surely enough, she did. A loud howl abruptly sounded off from the cave in which Pino had first seen signs of yet another creature exploring the tunnels.

This frightened Pino even more, and the mailbox was not too thrilled about hearing it as well. "Quick," he whispered as Pino listened to the sound of a quick shuffling that was closing in from behind.

"This way," the mailbox pleaded further and hopped violently. It was only now that the talking mailbox seemed less fear inducing to Pino and without further delay, she ran off in that direction. She zipped around the fire, careful of drifting too close to the range of the arms that were still trying to grab whatever they could find.

Once she had caught up to the mailbox, the two rushed off to the hall from which they had both come from and hid behind that corner. The shuffling grew louder and louder and the single eye of the mailbox began looking around frantically. The eye widened as it noticed yet another cave that led off the main path they were on. The cave was just ahead and it was much darker which would grant them a good place to hide.

"This way," the mailbox insisted and hopped down the darker cave ahead. Pino followed and the two rushed down this dark and cramped tunnel. They soon came to a dead end but the mailbox immediately turned to the left, and reluctantly noticed that the tunnel did not end here, but simply veered off course. The mailbox could also see a bright light in the distance.

"Come on," Pino exclaimed quietly, clearly noticing the light as well, she decided to lead the way towards it.

The two wasted no time and not but a few moments later, at about the halfway point between the turning point of the cave and the light ahead, did the mailbox stop in his tracks.

"I think we've lost it," the mailbox informed which caused Pino to stop and turn around. "My name is Communication," the mailbox informed politely. "And what might yours be?"

Pino was finally beginning to feel more friendly to the mailbox rather than intimidated. "My name's Pino," she replied.

She then leaned off to the right to ensure to herself that they were not being chased by whatever had let out that blood curdling scream a few moments ago. When she was certain that nothing was on it's way, she stood upright once more with a curious expression. "Who was that person that was chasing us," she asked blankly.

"Ah," Communication said with a shake of his head, or well, eye. "That would be what we call a _lost soul_. Lost souls are very aggressive. Do not confront one and if you ever face one, run away as fast as you can. I cannot stress how important that is."

"Why," Pino asked and blinked in a clueless manner. "Are they monsters?"

Communication let out a defeated sigh. While he should probably not be admitting this to a young girl like Pino, it was for her own safety. "Yes, little one," he finally stated. "They're monsters. Not like the ones you hear about in story books. They're real, and they're evil. They're angry and nobody knows why. All we know is that they are not to be trifled with. They're searching for something in this dark place. Each one of them searches for it, but I cannot say for certain what it is."

"Hmm," Pino thought muttered as she pondered on this topic for a moment. "Maybe if we help them find what they're looking for, they wont be monsters anymore."

Communication simply shook his head hopelessly. "It doesn't work that way. We call them lost souls for a reason. They just can't be helped."

Pino frowned at this, but did understand the initial message that Communication was trying to convey, '_Don't approach the monsters._'

"Well, come on," Pino insisted and walked off towards the light ahead. "Let's see what this place is."

Communication nodded and silently followed.

Pino and the mailbox named Communication walked into the open room and looked around to a very beautiful area. There were large pillars constructed of ice that lined the walls of this huge room. It was clear that this area was also constructed by man. There was an immense thrown of ice towards the back of the room which was positioned atop a small staircase of the same material.

An odd detail about this room was that on the right hand wall, encased in the ice, was an undefinable creature. It was completely frozen and not moving as opposed to the other monstrosities Pino had seen earlier. This creature strangely had the front body of a brown horse. The back torso was that of a human's with human legs and a horse's tail. Pino scanned the beast for a moment and moved her eyes to the front of the creature. This odd being shockingly had the head of a black telephone, the neck being a stereotypical telephone wire that coiled into the horse portion of this creature's body.

However, this was not nearly the most distracting and jaw dropping sight this particular room had to offer. Pino's eyes moved to the center of the room where she noticed an average sized pond of free flowing and completely unfrozen water where an icy floor should have been. Pino along with Communication could easily see right through the surface of the water to see that the pond seemed to lead to a shadowy abyss.

At the center of this crystal clear pond was a mirror in the shape of an oval. The mirror was halfway submerged in the water. The first half of the mirror which was not submerged in water, had a light blue frame. However, the mirror did not reflect Pino, the mailbox, or anything else that might lie in front of it. Instead, the mirror with a glass that almost looked to be colored of silver, reflected a single candle. The candle was white and a small flame burned atop of it. This candle was nowhere in sight in the actual room, but Pino really did not question it.

Her eyes, and Communication's single eye, simultaneously averted downwards to see what the second half of the mailbox had in store for the odd duo.

The half of the mirror that was submerged in water, had a black frame. That half of the mirror itself was not silver, but rather a solid black as well. However, the candle depicted in the first half seemed to be illuminating the dark area of the mirror. Another odd detail about the black side of the mirror was the scene in which it reflected. Although, there was no sign of what was in that part of the mirror either.

The black mirror illustrated a psychotic jester just like the one Pino and Communication had seen earlier. The jester had a crazed look on his face but was not riding a mammoth or balancing plates on sticks as he was previously. The jester looked straight at Pino and Communication. The jester did not move however. Instead, he simply sat their with no purpose for existence, no reason to even so much as breathe in the cool air around him.

"Well, this is peculiar," Communication announced only to break the silence that had overwhelmed the disturbing room they were currently in.

Communication then turned his eye to the left to see an exit to this ominous room. The opening was illuminated with light and snow blew inside from the unknown area beyond that point.

"Come along, Pino," he requested before hopping off in that direction.

* * *

Re-L and Vincent were still treading through the frozen wasteland in front of them. They had no idea what to make of such a sight. They had both agreed to ignore it and simply move on. However, they were both completely unequipped for the winter wonderland they were no trapped in. Re-L's trench coat did keep her somewhat warm for the first few minutes, but the wind suddenly picked up and now they were both freezing cold.

Their ears, hands, and feet were in pain. Re-L's hair had already began accumulating a small amount of frost within the locks which did irritate Re-L to no end. Vincent was not enjoying the little trip either. His red suit provided little to no protection against the elements, yet he still led the way. He tried his best to be a human shield, keeping most of the wind from blowing on Re-L, but it really did not work the way he wished for it to.

"Pino," he called out but his voice only seemed to carry with the whistling wind. A wind that hated the very thought of Vincent so much as being heard even by Re-L who was only a few inches away from him.

"Give it a rest, Vincent," Re-L ordered. While Vincent had not the slightest clue as to what she was saying. He turned to her, his eyes only slightly open to prevent the snow filled wind from disturbing them.

"I didn't hear you," he called out. This only caused Re-L to roll her eyes upon hearing this. It was difficult if not impossible to get a word out with all of the noise going on.

"I said to relax," Re-L repeated in a shout, not realizing that while she did in fact repeat the essential message she was trying to convey not a second ago; Re-L was actually confusing Vincent. How was he suppose to relax when the wind was moving 90 miles-an-hour?

Vincent decided to just ignore Re-L and move on. The two continued their not so pleasant stroll through the arctic tundra. Ironically, they were only a few yards left from the little trench of snow Pino had made when she was trying to navigate across this chaotic landscape. Most of that trench she had accidentally dug was being refilled with snow, leaving behind no traces of anyone who may have gone through this area.

The two were so enthralled with so many things that they did not even so much as look behind them when the probably needed to. Indeed, while Re-L and Vincent were managing to search for Pino, keep themselves as warm as possible, not get lost in the chaos around them, and keep from freezing to death; they had failed to notice a familiar skeleton was walking behind them as casually as if he were enjoying a pleasant summer day.

Re-L and Vincent continued on, completely oblivious to the skeleton behind them. Radiation followed them with his hands in his pockets and maneuvered through the snow with ease. He stopped however, as he noticed Vincent and Re-L abruptly turn to the left and walk off in that direction. He tilted his skull at this, he had no idea why they were going this direction. This was most likely due to them completely losing their sense of coordination among the blizzard.

Even though Radiation knew where Pino was, or at least, the general area that Pino _should be_, he silently followed them. "I believe you're going the wrong way," he said in his mind.

* * *

Elsewhere, Communication and Pino stepped out of the labyrinth of ice and into the outside world. They were currently on a small winding path that led down a cliff side. The area was still covered in snow as expected and they could feel a rather harsh wind, although it was no where near as bad as what Re-L and Vincent were experiencing.

There was an old line of wooden fence posts along the path which were connected by rusty barbwire. This was the only thing that would keep one from falling off into the abyss below. A harsh way to protect travelers to say the very least.

"Ew, it's quite chilly out here," Communication complained as he hopped out of the cave and to the right of Pino. The two looked around but could not see very well. The snow that was falling from the sky and now being blown around wildly was blocking most of their vision. They could only see a few yards ahead of themselves.

Communication's single eye shifted to the right where he noticed that the path went upwards. This presumably led to the top of the cliff. Communication then looked to the left to see that the path went further downwards. The only question now would be; which path would prove more helpful?

After a few moments of pondering, Communication finally reached a conclusion to this rather difficult decision.

"I think we should move to higher ground," Communication announced as he turned to the right. Pino looked off in that direction as well and nodded.

"Okay," she said cheerfully and skipped up the trail that would lead them to the top of the cliff. Communication glanced around one more time before following her up to the top of this large mountain.

The two traveled up the cliff side, this proving to be very difficult due to the fast and violent winds that came with the elevation as Pino and Communication went higher and higher. It took them probably around 20 or so minutes to make it to the top of the cliff but the finally did. They walked out onto the flat, snowy surface and turned out to see the landscape which was definitely familiar to Pino. As soon as the odd looking duo turned, they immediately noticed three figures off in the distance.

Right away, Pino recognized the first to figures to be Re-L and Vincent, who appeared to have stopped in their tracks as they two took notice into Pino. The other figure off behind Vincent and Re-L was a glowing green skeleton in a casual business suit.

"Excuse me," Communication called out over the sound of roaring winds and hopped towards the three strangers. Re-L and Vincent headed over to their direction but stopped when they came into range of Pino and Communication. They noticed the mailbox with one eye and immediately adopted horrified expressions. Re-L and Vincent luckily were not too terribly intimidated by Communication after having a conversation with a living skeleton that is.

"What's going on," Re-L asked with a stern tone and glared at the mailbox. "And just what the hell are you suppose to be?"

While Re-L began the process of interrogating the creature before her. Vincent bent over and smiled at Pino. "We were looking for you," he informed kindly. "Are you alright?"

Both Pino and Communication did not respond to the questions they were asked. Instead they had their eyes on the skeleton who was quickly advancing on their position.

Indeed, Radiation was now walking up from behind Re-L and Vincent, his bony hands still hidden in his pockets. This walk abruptly shifted into a run and before anyone could even realize what was going on, Radiation pushed both Re-L and Vincent forward.

This caused them to stumble into Pino and Communication, which in turn, led to the four falling over the edge of the cliff; this area unfortunately not having a protective fence around it.

The four fell off into the howling and icy madness below with simultaneous screams. Radiation then relaxed his stance and stepped over to the edge of the cliff to watch them fall. They soon left his sight, disappearing behind a screen of fog and falling snowflakes.

"So long, Ergo," Radiation said quietly. "He clearly had no intention of calling Vincent by his real name. Radiation only saw him and his friends to be characters in his little novel.

"I will see you again, very shortly," the skeleton insisted before promptly walking off into the cold world from whence he came.


	6. Beyond the Parallels

__Note: I would like to go ahead and inform the audience that I consider the third-person narrator to actually be a character in the story. The reason I say that now is because there is a scene in this chapter in which the Narrator completely trashes one of the characters after they insult the very idea of a narrator in a story... Hopefully that will make more sense when you read the chapter, and you will also notice this by the Narrator's actions in later chapters as well.__

* * *

**Beyond the Parallels**

Vincent woke up on a cold tiled floor. He opened those oddly colored eyes of his to find himself in the middle of what appeared to be a black void with no light whatsoever.

He frantically looked around, surprised to wined up here when he was previously falling off the side of a mountain in the middle of a blizzard. Now, he was suddenly trapped in a dark, lonely, but thankfully a very warm place. He had no flashlight and could barely see his own hand.

Vincent then remembered something and scanned his surroundings once more even though it was technically useless to do so. "_Re-L_," he called out. "_Pino!?_"

Unfortunately, no response came from either of his two companions. It would seem that he is all alone in this new world. Vincent let out a long sigh and allowed his head to drop downward. He was beginning to become frustrated. The only thing he was curious about at this point was why he kept being dragged into these ominous zones that made no logical sense. He and Re-L climbed down an almost infinite latter until the reached an underground maze that Vincent was 100% does not actually exist in his native home of Ukraine.

Vincent and Re-L then arrived in an entire city that was located in this underground labyrinth. They eventually were pulled into an arctic wasteland where they regrouped with Pino and fell off of a cliff side for an unknown reason. Vincent was now beginning to wonder if he would ever see Pripyat again. He was also contemplating theories he had on what must have happened to Vladimir during all of this.

Vincent's eyes finally began adjusting to the darkness and he was now able to see objects in his general vicinity. He looked down to the tiled floor where he noticed a sentence written in the marble just under his feet. He moved his feet out of the way and leaned downwards to gain a better view of the message. Vincent was then able to read the message which stated:

_"Vincent is only the designation the monster gave itself to hide from the fact that the beast's real name was Ergo. Too cowardly to face such a reality, it was clear; although not to the person in question that this timid and awkward personality is only a camouflage."_

The young man in the red outfit then stood up. He was guessing this was probably a segment to Radiation's little novel but he really did not care. In fact, Vincent seemed to have an almost defeated look on his face. He was beginning to think that maybe those words he had just read were not truly there. He was also suspecting that perhaps all of these places he was forced to visit are not real either. The only two things that seemed consistent and real to Vincent at this point were Re-L and Pino. Nothing about their nature had changed over the short time he had known them. Everything else however, especially his surroundings had no consistency whatsoever. As a result, Vincent could quite honestly care less about the current situation.

Vincent had almost completely lost the will to move forward and simply sat back down on the ground. "Why can't I just go back home," he asked himself. "Where is Re-L. Why can't I just spend my last few days with her instead than being plunged into this... _place_?" He saw no real purpose for trying to find Re-L, he had already assumed that he would never find her in this dark void.

"Giving up so soon," a voice questioned from behind. The voiced pierced the depressing silence with a more upbeat yet calm male tone.

Vincent jumped when he heard this and stood up. He looked behind himself and there in the distance he could just barely make out the figure of a person dressed in red robes with a hood covering his head.

"Who are you," Vincent asked nervously. This character did look most suspicious to Vincent, especially since the robes prevented Vincent from seeing any physical detail about the man, making him completely unrecognizable.

"My name is Literature," the man in the robes replied. "Now, if it isn't too much trouble, I would like you to come with me. That is, unless you would rather sit here and rot in your own sorrow. Otherwise, I would strongly recommend you follow, it will only take a moment."

"Where's Re-L," Vincent questioned, not exactly paying attention to what was previously said.

"I'll take you to her after I'm finished speaking with you, Vincent," Literature informed in a more firm yet still a very polite tone.

Vincent let out a long sigh and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He realized he would simply have to sit through yet another strange person speaking to him for the time being. However, Vincent was at least slightly curious to figure out who exactly this person called Literature was. The man already knew Vincent's name which is also suspicious. Needless to say, Vincent would like to know more about what the person or entity in front of him, and learn more about the place he is currently trapped in.

Without thinking too much on the subject, Vincent finally nodded signaling his consent to Literature's request. "Alright, I'll come with you," he said with slight exhaustion in his voice. It would appear that Vincent was still tired after having to venture out in that horrendous blizzard earlier. That snow storm did take its toll on Vincent's stamina.

"Now then," Literature stated, his upbeat tone of voice returning. "I assure you this shouldn't take very long. I would only like to speak with you for a few moments. Now, If you will follow me back to my quarters, this little interview will be over in no time."

Vincent nodded once more and Literature turned around before heading back down the dark corridor from which he came. Vincent abruptly checked over his shoulder as if making sure they would not be followed, even though there was nobody else around, and with that Vincent followed the stranger in robes.

* * *

Re-L woke up in a fright. She immediately sat up and took in a few deep breaths to calm herself. She looked to her surroundings to find herself in the familiar setting of Vincent's bedroom. The place was well lit from the sunlight outside, but due to the cloudy sky there was only a small amount of sunlight to illuminate the bedroom. It was also quite warm in Vincent's room, she was still shivering from the arctic weather she had previously plunged into.

Re-L knew that there was no way that all of the illogical scenes that had unfolded before could not have been a dream. For one, she was not in her nightly wear, but instead that black outfit she always had on. She was even still wearing her coat. Another thing would be the bits of melting ice that Re-L found in her hair. This all combined with her simply not being able to warm herself ended up forcing her to believe venturing into an underground labyrinth that would lead her to a winter wonderland must have actually happened.

Without wasting anymore time, after she had shaken all of the bits of ice out of her hair, she stood up and headed for the door. She wanted to speak with Vincent on the matter to see if he could remember anything as she could only vaguely picture the events of yesterday.

Re-L opened the bedroom door and forced herself down the short hallway, trying to properly wake herself up in the process. She soon arrived in the living room and scanned the area for any sign of Vincent. She saw Pino sitting on the floor, playing with a random object she picked up out of her own curiosity; however, Re-L found no sign of Vincent.

"Hey kid," Re-L stated firmly and crossed her arms. Pino looked up to her with a cold glare. It was clear that Pino did not like Re-L and Re-L absolutely despised the little girl in return. "I'm talking to you," Re-L reminded harshly.

"He left," Pino snapped and returned to her own business.

Re-L tilted her head curiously at the sudden response. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know," Pino replied in a less agitated way. "He woke up and started talking to himself. Then he went outside. I guess he had an invisible friend visiting that I just couldn't see," she announced cheerfully.

Re-L lifted an eyebrow upon hearing this. Why would Vincent start behaving so erratically? Even though this was a very ominous thing, Re-L was more irritated than she was worried. As she saw it, this would be the first time she would actually _need_ to speak with him in the few days they had met. Now, he was nowhere to be found.

"Damn him," Re-L growled and ran for the door. She threw the door open but stopped herself before she entered the hallway. "You stay here," she ordered while looking over her shoulder.

"Fine," Pino retorted but did not so much as make eye contact with the woman in black. Re-L simply rolled her eyes and ran off down the hall.

She headed towards the right end of the hall, but only made it about halfway between Vincent's apartment and the door that would lead her to the flight of stairs that stretched along the different floors of this average sized complex.

"Hmm," Re-L thought to herself as she glanced over her shoulder. "There's no telling where he is right now. But this town is small, if I were to head to the roof, I bet I could spot him from up there." With that in mind, Re-L continued her journey to the stairwell. She pushed the metal door open and entered the stairwell. Re-L gave one glance to the flight of steppes that would lead her further downwards and eventually to the ground level, but instead she decided to go on to the roof.

She quickly walked up the stairs, turning right as soon as she reached the top of the first staircase, and began climbing up the next one in line. She repeated this process several times before reaching the final floor. Re-L reached for yet another metal door and threw it open.

Re-L stepped outside but stopped herself as she noticed something on the ground. There at her feet, was a familiar black bird staring up at her. The bird tilted it's head at Re-L before abruptly flying off towards the cloudy skies above.

Re-L followed the bird with her eyes until the winged animal completely left her sight. With nothing left to draw her attention, Re-L looked back to the area that now surrounded her. She saw the usual air vents and fans that kept air circulating through the building properly. She then laid her eyes upon a familiar man with black hair and an odd red outfit, who was strangely walking along the very edge of the roof.

Vincent was walking on the right hand side of the roof as relaxed as can be. Even though Re-L could not see this from her current position, his eyes were glazed over and he was just barely breathing. It would almost appear as if he were under some sort of spell.

"_Vincent_," Re-L called out, but Vincent did not so much as even acknowledge that she was even there. He continued to walk along the edge like a hypnosis victim who has been trapped in an awkward trance. He was not trying to balance himself to keep from falling off of the roof.

"Are you even hearing me," Re-L yelled over the sound of the usual winds that blew at such altitudes. "Get away from the ledge," she ordered as she started in his direction.

Vincent still did not listen, he kept walking which caused Re-L to run after him at the last minute. Unfortunately, she might have been to late. As Vincent reached the right corner of the building where the edge veered off to the left, Vincent kept walking. He suddenly stepped over the side, and walked straight off the building.

Re-L ran after him until she finally made it to the edge. She looked over the side of the roof to see if there was anyway of saving Vincent. A shocked expression swept Re-L's face when she saw him sitting on the side of the building. He faced the opposite direction of her, looking towards the ground. Even though he was quite literally on the side of the building, he sat there as if he were sitting on the floor of his apartment.

He was only a few feet away from Re-L, still within her reach. As a result, Re-L reached over the edge and grabbed his shirt collar. "Vincent," she stammered, trying to keep herself from falling over while at the same time, attempting to pull Vincent back up.

After a few minutes of preforming this very difficult task. Re-L gave up and released Vincent's collar. She knew that if he had not fallen in the time it had taken her to grab him, then he would probably not fall at all. Re-l sat back down on the edge of the roof as she pondered about what exactly was going on.

From what Pino had said, Vincent woke up and was behaving oddly. Re-L remembered that Pino had specifically told her that he was interacting with some imaginary person. Even though it was Pino saying all of this, who was definitely not a reliable source of information, Re-L did not have much to go on. When she tried calling his name he would not answer, and he was walking so close to the edge and not so much as flinching. Now he was literally sitting on the side of a building.

Re-L abruptly grabbed her forehead in both frustration and confusion. "Ugh, what's going on," she growled to herself, trying to force the answer out of her head.

"Yes, it's quite confusing isn't it," an oddly familiar voice questioned from behind. Re-L jumped in a slight fright but quickly recovered as she looked over her shoulder to see Radiation sitting behind her.

"What's wrong with him," Re-L asked firmly and returned her attention to Vincent.

"Who? Vince," Radiation inquired. "Oh, he's fine. Although, I'm surprised you even care. From what I have written about your character, you are quite self absorbed and..."

"I don't give a shit about your book," Re-L snapped. "Just tell me what's going on!"

"Ew, that's not the proper language for a lady to use," Radiation nagged. "But whatever the case," he said to refocus himself on properly answering Re-L's question. "Vincent is just visiting another place right now. In fact, he's currently speaking with an old friend of mine, but he'll be back soon."  
"He's right here," Re-L argued as she violently turned back to the glowing skeleton and narrowed her eyes with aggression. "What do you mean he's visiting someone!?"

Radiation then nodded, realizing that Re-L truly did not have the slightest clue as to what he might have been referring to. "You see," the bag of bones explained . "Vincent may be here, but his mind is elsewhere. Right now, he's speaking with Literature. The old chap's only a few years ahead of me but we've been friends for as long as I can remember. When I told him that I myself was writing a story, he was more than eager to read it over. Of course, Literature being the curious cat that he is, decided he wanted to interview my protagonist. But don't worry, Vincent will be back soon."

Re-L thought on this confusing explanation for a brief moment. From what she could gather, Vincent was physically in the real world, but his subconscious, his soul, and his overall personality where locked into oblivion. While she was watching the body from a physical perspective, the mind was of venturing into a world of Forms.

"Then how is he sitting there," Re-L questioned, that being the last thing that has been left unexplained.

"As I said," Radiation repeated. "While he may be visiting my friend Literature. He is most certainly still with you. Where ever they go on the other side, Vincent's flesh will travel in that same direction. Imagine if you will," Radiation elaborated as he held a finger up, signaling to Re-L that this would most likely be a drawn out analogy. "That your brain tells your body to do something, and your brain registers that your body has preformed said task because it and the flesh are operating in two separate Forms. When my comrade, Literature, guides Vincent across a plain of nothing; the same nothing we all will end up in one way or another, Vincent's flesh will keep up as much as possible."

Re-L sighed and looked back to Vincent. She watched him for some time before she heard the sound of bones clicking and clacking from behind.

"Well," Radiation groaned as he stood back up. "I suppose I'll see you all in the next Phase. So long!"

"Phase," Re-L asked, not understanding what Radiation meant by that.

"Oh, you'll figure it out soon," Radiation reassured. "Also, if I were you I would hold on to him. Right now, Vincent is not acting under the laws of gravity, but when he wakes up, he'll end up like a bug on a windshield unless someone is going to keep him from falling."

Re-L turned to say something else to Radiation but when she looked back, he was completely gone. Re-L then turned back to Vincent and leaned over the edge once more. She strained as she reached for his collar but stopped. Re-L then figured that if Vincent were to fall while she was holding his collar, she might end up hanging him. Now, fearing that she would be doing more harm, Re-L decided to go for Vincent's hand as a more efficient way to pull him up. She soon grabbed a hold of his wrist and waited for him to come back to reality.

While all of this was going on, Vladimir was silently cleaning his assault rifle while he sat at a bench positioned on the far end of the road in front of Vincent's apartment building. He suddenly had the strange desire to look up. Vlad did as intuition had requested, and spotted two figures on the roof, hanging over the side of the building. It did not take long for Vlad to safely assume who the people were.

He saw Re-L was halfway on the roof, straining to keep a firm grip on Vincent's wrist while he was completely over the side of the building.

"What the hell are these idiots doing now," Vlad asked himself in annoyance. He placed his weapon on the part of the bench that he was not sitting in and stood up. Vlad then promptly headed towards the entrance of Vincent's apartment.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vincent and Literature arrived into a large room that was only partially lit by an unseen light source. Vincent took a seat on the tiled floor while Literature paced up and down the area in front of his little guest.

The two had just arrived and had finally settled in. Literature specifically, had been searching for something for the past few minutes. He finally gave up after realizing that he probably wont be able to find the thing he was looking for anytime soon.

"Alright," Literature announced as he came to a stop in front of Vincent and slowly grabbed a hold of the hood which hid his head from Vincent's view. He then removed the hood but to Vincent's surprise and utter shock, Literature did not have the face of a normal man. Instead, Literature removed his hood, revealing that he had a single and enormous eyeball as a head and nothing more.

Vincent adopted a slightly disgusted expression as he examined this eye. The eye itself was of a lightish blue, but after a split second it slowly began changing to a more emerald color, as if Literature was trying to mimic Vincent's eyes.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting like this," Literature apologized. Excitement was growing in his tone although Vincent could not figure out why. In hindsight, Vincent was such a boring person to be around but apparently Literature would disagree with that argument.

"That's fine," Vincent assured. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I'm sure you've met my good friend Radiation," Literature questioned and Vincent nodded. Literature's single eye widened upon seeing the nod. Literature himself had a strong fascination with books, and when hearing that one of his friends had begun the task of writing one, he was interested in not only learning every detail about the book, but personally getting to know the characters.

"Has he spoken to you about the book he's writing," Literature asked with hopes that Vincent would say yes.

"He did," Vincent confirmed. "He said he was writing a story based on me. I can't remember what he called it or why he's even writing it about me but..."

"Wait a minute," Literature interrupted in confusion and pointed to Vincent accusingly. "You just announced that Radiation said he was basing a character of the book on you."

"That's right," Vincent reassured. "Or that's what he said anyway."

"Hmm," Literature pondered as he tapped the bottom of his eye which was suppose to be the area in which a chin should be. "That's peculiar."

Vincent then lifted an eyebrow at Literature. "Did he tell you differently," Vincent asked, thinking that he might have just misunderstood what Radiation had originally told him. As Vincent thought back on the instance in which he, Re-L, and Radiation met, it was a rather disorienting time. It is quite possible that he may have misheard something.

"Um," Literature replied nervously. Vincent was caught off guard by the sudden nervousness in Literature's tone. It is not like he was asking a difficult question to begin with. "No," he stuttered. At this point Vincent could almost catch a sense of dishonesty coming from the single eyed entity. "No, not at all," Literature confirmed.

"However, that's neither here or there," Literature said dismissively and waved Vincent away as he tried to refocus the conversation. Literature did call Vincent here for a more legitimate reason after all. He would like to inform him of a few things, and it would be better to do that now before Vincent became bored or impatient with him.

"I would like to tell you more about this story of Radiation's," Literature began with excitement stirring up once again in his voice.

Vincent on the other hand, was already feeling slightly worried about going into a topic that had little meaning to him. He really did not care about this little novel everyone kept talking on and on about. All Vincent wanted to do at this point was regroup with Re-L and Pino.

"You know," Vincent interjected before Literature went off on a long rant about his thoughts on this book. "I really need to find Re-L. Maybe we could talk some other time," he suggested but Literature would have none of it.

"Nonsense," Literature pouted. "I really think you'll find this new philosophy of mine to be quite interesting since it does concern you. You _are_ the subject of Radiation's story, are you not?"

"Well," Vincent replied and glanced around randomly before concluding his answer. "Yes."

"Then stick around for awhile and you'll be seeing Miss Mayer in no time, I assure you," Literature stated, completely regaining control of the conversation.

He then turned and began pacing once more, up and down the room he went for no reason other than force of habit. "Have you ever wondered," Literature asked aloud even though it almost seemed to Vincent like he was asking the question subconsciously. "While you have a book in your hands and you see the characters on the pages as they enact all of these things that create a conflict and resolution, thus inventing a story; have you ever wondered what their lives are like when you close the book?"

Vincent was obviously confused by the question. It was nonsensical to ask what the private lives of fictional characters are beyond what simple narration illustrates. The fact of the matter is, or at least to Vincent anyway, that the lives of characters started and ended within the narration of a story.

"What do you mean," Vincent asked, wanting to make sure that he heard the question correctly.

"I'm speaking specifically about the characters of a story. Have you ever stopped to think about what kind of life it would be to live as one of them? The people among all of those words, who's very soul only exists strictly to inform you about a fictional tale in which they reside. A linear tale that in turn, only exists to entertain the person on the other side of that scenario. The person who has a life that is not linear in the least."

"No," Vincent admitted after a pause. "No I haven't."

Literature shook his eye in disappointment. "Ugh, you really should! Do you know that?" Literature waited for a split second to see if he would get a response but he quickly figured out that Vincent was waiting for Literature to continue his odd rant that was barely registering with his mind to be a coherent argument.

Literature then stopped his pacing and his eye color changed to a bright magenta as he looked to the ground. His eye narrowed as he tried to concentrate on explaining his argument further. "When you see it from my perspective," Literature finally continued. "In reality all people do is sit around and very rarely will any of them make history. In a story, a character is forced by the narrator to go on a quest to slay a dragon or something along those lines. Then when someone comes along to read it, the character will have to do the same thing. Experience the same pains, the same mistakes, same dragon to fight and so on and so forth for all of eternity."

Vincent only watched as Literature went on and on about this peculiar topic. While Vincent did want to see where Literature was headed with this little rant of his, he was growing impatient and was beginning to wonder if he would even see Re-L anytime soon.

"It also brings me to a more depressing school of thought," Literature informed in a darker tone. "If you think of the narrators of these stories as individual gods that rule over the characters and settings, that in of itself is the reason the characters are forced into such terrifying adventures. It is the fault of the narrators because they abuse their power and force the protagonist of a story to pursue such dangerous tasks."

Now of course, this statement made it abundantly clear that Literature is blatantly ignorant to a more laughable degree. Regardless of this fact, Vincent still listened to the pointless argument that truly had less meaning that the individual proposing such ideals.

"Vincent," Literature stated in a firm tone. "I know that your friend Re-L is calling for you now so I will not keep you here in longer, however we will meet again. But in the meantime, I would like you to find an answer to a very important question that concerns you deeply."

"Okay," Vincent said slowly, not certain as to why any of this concerned him.

"Now," Literature continued. "While your out there waiting for your inevitable end like the rest of us, I want you to ask yourself this. The narrators of all storybooks are technically gods and as a result, the characters' lives are pointless. Does that mean that if there was to be a real god, would life not be just as pointless and meaningless as the pages in a the books your mother use to read you before bed? If there is a narrator governing us all, would life not be toyed with to the point in which it has no meaning? And even if there is no god, then would life even be worth living since it has no objective or inevitable reward like our stories do?"

"Why are you asking me," Vincent inquired. He honestly had no idea as to how and answer it in the first place.

"While you don't realize it now," Literature informed. "This question is something you will need to find the answer to. Believe it or not, but all of what I have previously said applies to you in more ways than you might understand at the moment. So, when I see you again, I hope you'll have my answer."

With that last bit of monologue spoken, Literature faded away into the shadows. "Ugh," Vincent panicked, no wanting to learn more about what all of this was suppose to mean, that is, if it even meant anything at all.

"Wait," Vincent pleaded but it was no use.

* * *

Soon, Vincent woke up. He was surprised to see he was lying on the roof and he blushed slightly to see Re-L hovering over him. With some effort, and with the help of Vlad who came along to see what she was up to, they were able to pull him back onto the surface.

"Re-L," he questioned. Re-L narrowed his eyes to investigate him for any unusual signs. She did not see any, it was the same old Vincent she had remembered, but she did see the redness in his cheeks and immediately moved away.

"Ugh," she said in disgust and abruptly stood up. "I need to speak with you," she said firmly.

Vincent sat up and noticed Vladimir standing next to her. "Vlad," he asked. "How have you been?" Vincent would have gone further with the question but he stopped himself. He had forgotten that he, Re-L, and Pino were only trapped in that strange dreamscape over night even though it felt like a week or so.

"I'm fine," Vlad informed flatly.

"Vlad's seen a lot of the same things we've been dealing with," Re-L interjected.

"That's right," Vlad nodded. "Some creepy shit has been going down in this town ever since it became abandoned. I'll be back over tonight and we'll see if we can't get to the bottom of all of this craziness."

Vincent gave Vlad a nod and with that he walked off. Re-L waited until he left the scene before she sat back down in front of Vincent with a curious expression.

"What happened to you Vincent," she inquired sternly. "You nearly got yourself killed when you started walking up here on the roof. Then you started talking to yourself and you were sitting on the side of the building like some sort of freak show."

Vincent only shrugged in response, he definitely did not want to go in to it at this point. "It's a long story," he stated squeamishly, hoping Re-L would take piety on him and give him a moment to relax. Surprisingly, that is exactly what she did when she stood up once more.

"Fine, but you need to tell us about it tonight," she warned.

"Okay," Vincent replied. "I'll tell you all later, I'm just a bit tired right now."


	7. Phase II

_Note: I changed the title of the previous chapter because I felt it was repetitive to call one chapter 'Two Worlds' and the chapter right after that to be called 'Phase II.'_

* * *

**Phase II**

For an absolutely unexplained reason, Vincent was sitting in the seat of a moving metro train. His eyes were completely glazed over as he looked out of the pitch black window to his left. His fist rested beneath his chin to keep his head from falling forward while he continued to watch the moving terrain outside. Although, because the lights in this tramcar were on and it was night outside, Vincent could not actually see out of the windows however, he looked as if he were starring off into the distance even though there was nothing to look at.

An unknown amount of time would pass before something began to stir in the seat ahead of Vincent. A bright green skeleton slowly rose up from the seat to look at Vincent. Radiation tilted his skull curiously and reached over to the young man he showed so much interest in for whatever reason. Radiation then plucked a single hair out of his head, forcing Vincent to snap out of his trance. "Wake up my boy," Radiation requested in an obnoxious tone. "You've almost reached your stop."

Vincent frantically looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings before his eyes settled on the suspicious skeleton that shined a luminescent green. His brain finally processed where he was at, or rather, it acknowledge that he was not where he needed or even wanted to be.

"Wha, where am I," Vincent asked in a disoriented slur.

"Why, you're in another phase of course," Radiation replied. Vincent immediately threw himself back in his seat in frustration. "Oh, don't look so glum," Radiation stated. "You haven't even given this place a chance."

"I don't want to be here," Vincent whined. "Can't you just leave me alone already? I don't know what you're trying to achieve by all of this and I don't care either."

Radiation shook his skull in disappointment. "Giving up already are we? T hat's fine, I suppose. But I really hope you'll enjoy staying in this lonely place for the rest of eternity. Otherwise, I would suggest you get a move on."

After Radiation finished speaking, Vincent lowered his head and buried his forehead into his palms. "Where is everyone else," he asked in an annoyed tone of voice. Vincent was more than ready to take his leave, with or without the abstract lesson Radiation was trying to teach him.

The skeleton then placed his bony index finger to his chin and thought for a moment. "I believe that rude woman in the black outfit is here, but the child and the man with the gas mask are not in this phase."

"You keep using the word phase," Vincent informed. "What is that suppose to mean, anyway?"

"Well, if you haven't figured that out yet," Radiation began. "Then you probably never will so I won't even bother. I will however, give you this." Vincent looked up towards the skeleton in curiosity. Radiation then reached behind his seat and pulled a small pocket knife out for Vincent to see. Radiation reached over hand dropped the knife in Vincent's hand. Vincent caught the knife with ease and examined it.

"You'll need it," Radiation said in a dark manner. He then looked out the window and tried to peer through the darkness. Radiation noticed a sign swiftly pass by and immediately turned back to Vincent. "Alright, the train will arrive at your stop shortly. Listen carefully because I'm about to tell you how to go about finding your friend. That is, unless you don't want to find her."

Vincent looked up to Radiation and slightly opened his eyes. "Tell me," he ordered, even though Vincent was clearly anxious, his weak tone still dominated his voice.. "Where's Re-L?"

"You'll have to find her," Radiation replied. "Vincent, this place will be very confusing. You need to keep an eye out and make sure nothing is following you out there. You're safe on the train but as soon as you step off, you're on your own. There are things out there that wish to harm you. So, in the event that you come across one, you have a knife to defend yourself. Re-L on the other hand, is out there all by herself, unarmed."

"Let me off the train, then," Vincent demanded.

"What," Radiation questioned casually with a shrug of his shoulder bones. "If the train were to stop before your destination, you would never be able to find her. Be patient, Re-L Mayer is a resourceful girl, she'll be just fine. In fact, I would worry more about yourself."

Vincent calmed himself slightly, knowing that Radiation was correct, Re-L would be just fine on her own. He did however, need to learn more about this strange place he would be arriving at soon. He then gestured for Radiation to carry on with his lecture.

"Vincent Law," Radiation continued. "Even though you may not realize it. Your biggest fear, is being alone. Re-L Mayer unfortunately suffers from a common phobia although her's is slightly different but none of the less, I would recommend you two regroup as soon as possible. The bottom line is that out there, if you are by yourself for too long, you'll start to change. But I'm sure you'll be fine," Radiation reassured.

"But," Vincent tried to retort but he was interrupted as both he and the green skeleton felt the train they were riding on come to a sudden halt. A loud whistling sound could be heard as the metal wheels of the train stopped their turning.

"I believe this is your stop," Radiation announced quietly and gestured towards a sliding door at the front of the train car which abruptly opened up for any passengers to exit through.

With a solemn look on Vincent's face, he lowered his head and stood up. He knew he was most likely not going to obtain any more information from the skeleton. Vincent promptly walked off of the train with the knife in his hand and plunged into the dark world ahead.

* * *

Re-L was cautiously walking through an old broken down building. She had no idea how she got here, she woke up in the middle of a random hallway not but 10 minutes or so ago. Re-L could not navigate at all through this ruined maze. It was far too dark to the point where Re-L had to flip on her flashlight just to provide some visibility. The flashlight however, for some reason was not working properly and only produced a small cone of light.

She turned into a new hallway, not exactly sure what floor she was on but really did not care. She wanted to find a way out of this unknown building and knew that she would keep having to go down. If that were the case, Re-L would simply follow the stairwell down to the first floor and exit the building from there. The only problem was that the building's staircases were split up across the building. Re-L would be able to take the stairs down to one more level before she had to seek out the next flight of steps on that particular floor.

Re-L stepped over a pile of old papers that were scattered on the floor and walked up to a nearby window. She looked out to see the skyline of an average sized city with apartments, office complexes, and everything else one would expect to see. What she did not see however, was people. She looked down to the parking lot below but there was not a soul in sight. She scanned the streets that ran all throughout the city but no cars were driving up and down them. Nobody was walking on the sidewalks. The city itself was not even very well light. There were a few lights on in the surrounding buildings but for the most part, even the streets themselves were dark.

"Where am I," Re-L asked herself. She scanned the outside world one more time before turning away and returning to her lonely journey that would lead her to God knows where. "_Ugh_," she continued in disgust. "This place is nothing like Moscow... Wait," she thought to herself as she suddenly came to a more shocking and slightly disturbing realization. Her expression shifted from her usual scold to a more frightened one.

"_What_," Re-L inquired in a soft tone and came to a sudden stop in the middle of the hallway. "What was Moscow like," she asked in distress. Re-L ran her hand through her long dark hair in confusion. For some reason, she simply could not remember her life prior to arriving in Pripyat.

"The last thing I remember," Re-L told her none existent audience. "Was pulling up here in my car... Or well," she corrected herself. "Arriving in Pripyat. I'm pretty sure this place isn't that same old town." She would not be wrong in that accusation, this town she was in at the moment, was nothing like Pripyat.

"I know," Re-L growled quietly, trying desperately to jog her memories of Moscow. "I know the people I'm suppose to be related to. I know the names of so many people in that city. I can still hear their voices. So why can't I just remember them."

Re-L tried repeatedly to liberate these lost memories from their subconscious prison. She knew everything about her old life. She knew her address in Moscow, the names of every acquaintance she had grown familiar with; every major event someone would go through in their young life, Re-L acknowledged all of these things happening. Although, while she knew about her past, she simply could not picture it. She was unable to conjure any from of visual memory.

After a few moments of hopelessly trying to retrieve said memories, she simply sighed and gave up. "Whatever," she groaned and continued her walk through the building. "I probably just don't remember because Vladimir knocked me out. Yeah, eventually I'll remember everything."

She moved on like a ghost roaming an old home in the middle of the night. Re-L walked passed an open door that led to a dark room. She completely ignored this room, knowing that it would only grant her entrance to a random office space. Re-L would have left this room behind entirely but she stopped at the last minute and looked back towards the doorway. "What was that," she asked in her mind. Re-L could have sworn she saw a shadow moving through that room out of the corner of her eye.

Re-L debated on going in this room and seeing what was in there, but Re-L was a very intuitive person and decided against it. She slowly backed away from the room, not allowing her eyes to leave it until she was safely around a nearby corner that would take her to another staircase which would thankfully lead her out of the building.

* * *

Vincent had already navigated his way out of the metro station and was now searching the streets for any signs of Re-L Mayer. He turned a corner and headed down an alleyway, although it was unclear why he even decided to go down this road given how dark it was. Then again, Vincent obviously was not as careful as Re-L usually is. He only wanted to find her and get out of this dark and lonely place.

He had tucked the knife into his pocket a little while ago but did not take his hand off of it. Due to the entire city being deserted and it having a very oppressive and nerve racking atmosphere, he could not help but keep on guard.

As Vincent walked through this solitary alley, he soon came to a dead end. There was a brick wall in his way. Vincent then turned to the right where there was indeed another alley for him to take. However, as soon as he turned, he saw a shady figure at the end of the alley. Before Vincent could get a good look at this figure, it abruptly turned down another alley off to the right and left Vincent's cone of vision.

"_Hey_," Vincent called out and abruptly ran after it. The only thing Vincent could clearly see about the figure before it vanished down that other path was that the person was wearing all black. As a result, he immediately assumed it was Re-L.

Vincent turned down that same alley the mysterious person had taken before but as soon as he turned the corner, nobody was there. Vincent stood their, staring towards the end of the alley which led off towards a main street but not a soul was in sight.

Vincent let out a disappointed sigh but quickly stopped himself as something came to mind. Why did the person ignore Vincent? If it was Re-L or anyone for that matter, would they not immediately look in his direction as they heard him screaming for them? Vincent shrugged at this, he then remembered what Radiation had warned him about before he exited the train.

"So," he asked himself as he turned around and looked up to the surrounding buildings. "If there really are dangerous... things here, then where are they? I haven't seen anyone." He began to feel an odd sense of depression as he realized how truly alone he felt in this strange new world. Vincent ran out towards the nearby street and came to a stop in the middle of the road. He searched the streets frantically for any sign of life but nobody was in the area. The entire city was completely abandoned.

Vincent dropped his shoulders in disappointment and walked down the road with hopes of finding Re-L. He was beginning to feel like such a task was impossible. How exactly was he suppose to find one person in this run down city. Unfortunately though, Vincent's biggest worry was not finding Re-L Mayer, but he was more disturbed by the fact that the two were not alone in this city, no matter how lonely it may seem. From what Radiation had told him there are entities lurking somewhere out here that have the intent to harm him and Re-L.

He soon came to an average sized apartment complex which was positioned on the right hand side of the street. Vincent would have not cared about the building, but he stopped as he noticed the lights were on in the lobby and the glass doors were open. This would be the first time he laid eyes on a building that was not pitch black or completely boarded up. Naturally, his curiosity got the better of him.

"Hmm, maybe Re-L is in there," he thought aloud. It would not be such a far fetched idea. Perhaps it was Re-L who opened the building up and turned on the lights. Although, the lobby was the only area that seemed to be lit up as far as Vincent could see. He looked upwards but all of the windows were totally dark.

Vincent then promptly headed off for the building. He came to the entrance and stepped inside. There was nobody around as expected and one of the lights just over head was flickering off and on in a very creepy manner. Vincent scanned the area to see if he could spot any sort of clue that would lead him to finding Re-L but nothing made itself known.

Vincent's eyes suddenly fell upon the back area of the lobby. There was an open doorway which presumably led to a stairwell which would take him further inside the complex. Just as he spotted this doorway, he caught a faint glimpse of that same figure walking passed the interior of the doorway and disappearing behind yet another wall.

"Um," Vincent said hesitantly. He knew he probably should not pursue this entity. He already was quite positive that it was not Re-L. None of the less, there was nothing left for Vincent to go on. His first lead would start here. Vincent took a deep breath and pulled out the pocket knife Radiation had given him. He was now definitely planning to thank the old skeleton for providing him with such a useful tool. He walked forward and started for the entrance to the stairwell that would allow him to explore this apartment building further.

* * *

Re-L finally made it out of the building she was trapped in. She stepped out onto an empty street and searched her surroundings for anybody, anybody at all. Unfortunately their was nobody around. She noticed parked cars and trash on the sidewalks but no people whatsoever.

"Damn," she groaned. "There isn't a soul around here." Re-L then thought about how nice it would be to have some form of background provided to her about where she currently was. She also thought about how unbelievably useful it would be to have someone like Radiation here to give even a small hint about where she was even suppose to go.

"The one time I would like to have a word with that bag of bones and the bastard is nowhere in sight," she complained. It was true, but then again, Radiation for some reason was only concerned with Vincent. He seemed to care less about what happened to Pino, Re-L, or Vladimir. As Re-L contemplated this, she began to wonder something. "I've been looking for Vincent this whole time," she stated aloud but halted her soliloquy as she realized her flashlight was still on. Re-L immediately turned it off, knowing she would be placed in a bad position if the batteries were to die.

Re-L then shoved the flashlight back into her coat pocket. Luckily, the streets were lit up just enough for her to see clearly without it.

"Alright," Re-L said as she scratched her head in confusion and looked to the right side of the road, then the left. "Where do I go from here?" Re-L contemplated this for a brief moment before she shifted her eyes directly ahead of herself and spotted a laundromat just across the street. She looked into the windows to see the place was completely lit up.

"Well," she sighed and headed in that direction. "I suppose this will be a good place to start."

Re-L walked up to the pair of glass doors that marked the entrance to the laundromat. She pushed open the doors and stepped inside. Re-L calmly searched the area for anything that may prove useful to her. With no luck in finding anything of the sort, Re-L was about to walk out of the cleaners empty handed before she noticed a person standing behind the counter which was situated in the back of the room. She immediately turned to face this person, her stomach sank fearfully, but she soon calmed herself to see that it was only a manikin standing there.

Indeed, while this still did not sit very well with Re-L. After all, why would a plastic man randomly be placed behind the counter of a laundromat such as this. This would not go over well with in any circumstance since the mere sight was just plain creepy. However, Re-L felt the oppressive atmosphere of the town collapsing down on her. What frightened her the most about seeing this ominous scene, was the fact that it made no logical sense.

None of the less, Re-L approached the manikin cautiously. She occasionally glanced to her surroundings to make sure there was nothing hiding in the shadows. While Re-L did not know for certain if there was anyone or anything lurking around, she had safely assumed that she was not alone. Ever since Re-L left the building she had woken up in, she would occasionally hear footsteps from off in the distance but never see anything.

Re-L arrived at the counter and looked towards the manikin with no face. She then shifted her eyes downwards and noticed a very useful item sitting there. Re-L's eyes widened and she let out a surprised gasp to see her pistol on the counter. She could easily tell it was her's since there was a pearl handle on the firearm. "How on Earth is this even here," she asked aloud. Re-L then wondered that if her pistol was here, maybe Vladimir was here too.

She picked up the pistol and aimed down the sights just to remind herself of how to operate the weapon. Re-L then lowered the weapon and looked around to see if there was anything else here that might help her in trying to find anyone she knew. "If my gun is here," Re-L told herself. "Vlad has to be around here somewhere."

Re-L spotted a door off to the right and behind the counter. "Vlad," she called out, thinking that if Vlad was in the area, he would probably still be in the laundromat. Why else would he leave her pistol just lying here?

Re-L jumped over the counter, passing the manikin and darted towards the door. She threw it open but nobody was inside. The place was only a small storage room with a single window that seemed to be pointless as it only granted a view of the brick wall on the other side of a dark alley. Re-L headed further inside the room out of simple curiosity.

She walked towards a nearby table and fiddled with some of the junk on it before turning back to take her leave. As soon as she did turn around, she saw a man standing in the window of the storage room. Re-L jumped as she laid eyes on this person. The man only stood there for a split second before realizing that Re-L could see him. The stranger then walked off, leaving the cone of vision granted by the window and disappeared in the dark streets outside.

As soon as the man left, Re-L allowed herself to take in a few deep breaths of relief. She grasped her pistol tightly and after spending a short amount of time to regain her confidence, Re-L finally left the storage room and set out to find Vincent. She would now of course be fully on guard. She now knew for certain that she was not alone. Re-L was now determined to find her other friends as quickly as possible.

* * *

Vincent Law was still exploring the old apartment building he had come across earlier. He was too oppressed by the atmosphere to even call out for Re-L as he continued to wonder aimlessly through the confusing corridors. Luckily for him though, he was able to find a set of light switches and turned on several lights on the floor he was currently on. For some reason, most of the switches would simply not work and as a result he had to settle with only a quarter of the over head lights working. This at least provided him with enough light to properly navigate from one gloomy and dark hall to another.

Even though Vincent was already planning to leave the apartment building, he was beginning to become slightly curious about some of the homes that surrounded him. After a short interval of wondering through these corridors, Vincent abruptly halted his stride and turned to the right after noticing one of the apartment doors was wide open.

He peered inside and found that the room was in decent shape. The place seemed as if it were just recently abandoned without any rhyme or reason for doing so. There was little to no dust on the walls, floors, or furniture. Yet even though the place looked abandoned since nobody was currently inside, Vincent saw no signs of the previous occupants trying to pack up their possessions in a hurry. He saw no trash or junk strode out on the floor or anything else of that nature which would indicate if such an event happened. It seemed as if this place was never really owned by anybody, and was kept well for no identifiable reason.

"Well," Vincent thought and placed his index finger to his lips in a pondering manner. "I guess I could search through this place a little bit more. Who knows, maybe I'll find something interesting." In actuality, that was just his intrigue speaking through him but regardless Vincent entered the empty apartment.

Vincent shoved his hands in his pockets after letting his guard down. He stepped into the living room where a couch and coffee table were neatly positioned at the center of the room. There was a kitchen area behind Vincent and in between the living room and entrance was a small hall that connected the two. There was a closed door on the right hand side of that hallway that Vincent had assumed would lead him to a restroom.

Vincent spotted another door out of the corner of his eye which was beside the kitchen. "I bet that's the bedroom," he assumed before returning his attention to the living room. There was not much to see in this part of the home, just a bunch of old junk that had no sentimental meaning to Vincent. There was a few papers on the table, a coffee mug with nothing in it, although the glass was stained black signaling that it must have been used recently, and a pen was also on the table.

The young timid man walked around to the other side of the table and took a seat on the couch, making himself at home. Vincent had been walking through this city for some time, it would be nice to take a brief moment's rest before he had to venture back out into the frightening world in order to locate Re-L and eventually rendezvous with Vlad and Pino, wherever they were suppose to be by now.

He let out a tired sigh as he sat back on the sofa. "I wonder what will happen when we finally get out of this... _place_," Vincent pondered in his mind. Ever since they had first climbed down that ladder, Vincent had yet to have been granted the time to think about such topics. "Oh, that's right," he continued in disappointment. "Even if we do make it out of all of this, we'll still end up dying from the poisoned air that now consumes my home town."

Vincent allowed his eyes to slowly close shut for a few minutes. While he was tired, he was definitely not in the mood to sleep. How was he even suppose to sleep in such an ominous place like this? "Why does Radiation even want us to try and get out of here," Vincent questioned himself further. "If there truly is no hope for us, then why should we even bother? Speaking of Radiation, who is he anyway? Why does he care so much about us to the point where he has to write his own fiction novel depicting a fantasy about our lives? I'll try to speak with him about that if I see him again."

The young man then opened his emerald eyes once more and looked up to the ceiling. "I should really thank Vladimir the next time I see him... _If_ I ever see him again. In the short time that I have known him, he's been quite nice to us. Or well, to most of us," Vincent corrected his own mind as he remembered Vlad's relationship with Re-L. Especially since he shot her in the shoulder and only allowed her to live because Vincent took responsibility over her.

"I should also talk to Re-L too. I know she'll probably just roll her eyes, but it would be nice to try and get to know her a little more. I also hope Pino is okay. Radiation said she's with Vlad so I'm sure she'll be fine. I really just need to focus on finding Re-L and getting out of here."

Vincent halted his train of thought and sat back up. He scratched his head, while his time sitting down and contemplating his current situation was nice, he would now have to get back up and keep searching for the others.

Vincent pushed himself back on his feet and stepped away from the couch. He walked around the table and headed back out the door. He only made it to the kitchen when he stopped himself and looked inside. The kitchen was dark and not as well lit as the living room was.

"_Hmm_." Vincent then proceeded inside to see if he could find something to drink. He walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it up. The only things he found in this cabinet were several stacks of dishes and several cockroaches that immediately scattered when he opened the little wooden door.

Vincent shut the cabinet door in disgust and moved on to the next one. He opened the cabinet up and sure enough, there were several glasses inside. Vincent grabbed a green glass and placed it in the sink. He turned the faucet on and allowed it to fill the glass up with water. Vincent shut the faucet off once more. He then promptly drank the contents, placed the glass in the sink, and headed back out into the living room.

Vincent would have left the apartment room at that moment and never looked back. However, he heard an odd noise coming from the room to the left side of where he was currently standing. The room he had previously presumed was the bedroom. Vincent slowly approached the door and soon realized the sound he was hearing was actually the faint crying of a woman from behind the door.

He listened to this unusual noise and while he was curious as to whom was behind the door, Vincent immediately decided against going inside for further investigation. This was a bad sign indeed, even for someone who was completely unable to sense the mood of a certain setting like Vincent, even he knew it would not be a good idea to go inside.

Without a second thought, Vincent rushed out of the apartment and began the process of making his way out of the complex entirely.


	8. Gothic Sorrow

**Gothic Sorrow**

Re-L had left the laundromat around 20 minutes or so ago. She was now walking through an apartment building. This place was far different from the apartment from the place Vincent was exploring. It was much darker with almost no light to illuminate the way other than Re-L's flashlight which only produced a small cone of visibility.

She held her pistol in her right hand while her left hand contained her flashlight. She could feel eyes on here even though she knew the entire town was abandoned. Re-L also had a strong feeling that she was being followed by something. Ever since she saw that figure in the window of the laundromat, she would occasionally hear footsteps coming up from behind her but when she would turn around; nothing was there or she would see a flash of a moving shadow out of the corner of her eye but that was all.

Re-L walked silently down a dark hall. She allowed the flashlight to guide her on this little adventure of her's. After a few moments, Re-L's stern expression abruptly shifted to a very depressed one. She moved on for only a few more steps before she finally collapsed to her knees, dropping the flashlight to the ground which caused it to roll a few feet away from her.

"I'll never get out of here," she told herself. "How am I even suppose to find Vincent or anyone in this place. The town is huge and how can I even be sure that he's here in the first place?" Re-L slowly looked towards the pistol which was still in her hand. She then abruptly and in an almost ghostly manner, held the pistol to her head.

"I don't see another way out," Re-L whispered. She held the pistol against her head for the longest time before she suddenly threw the pistol across the hall and threw herself on the floor in frustration.

"What am I thinking," Re-L asked herself. "I'm not going to die in this place. I'll find something eventually, I just have to know where to look." Re-L Then stood back up and walked over to the right. She then knelt down and picked up her flashlight before standing upright once more and walking ahead to try and locate her firearm. She soon spotted a metal object on the ground that was reflecting the light from her flashlight. This grabbed her attention and she quickly walked towards the pistol and picked it up as well.

As Re-L stood back up, she could not help but allow her eyes to wander to the right side of the hallway. There on the wall directly adjacent to her current position was a closed door which would lead to just another apartment. Re-L would have turned away in disinterest if it was not for a sliver of amber light that spilled out of the creases of the doorway and into the dark hallway.

Re-L tilted her head curiously, wondering why this was the only room in the building, or at least in the parts she had explored, in which the lights were on. In fact, Re-L was planning to hunt for a fuse box because she was previously exploring one of the lower levels of this building and tried to turn the hall lights on but they would not work. As a result, Re-L had initially assumed the electricity was completely cut off to this building but it would now appear that there was light in the room to her right.

She could not help but become even more curious about this room. Surely someone was inside if the lights were on but at this point, Re-L was beginning to become suspicious of anyone she might end up finding. She still was on edge because she was obviously being followed, this only led to her being rather nervous about confronting anyone other than Vincent, Vlad, Pino, or even Radiation.

"Alright, I'll check this out," she told herself as she silently tightened her grip on her weapon. She raised her flashlight in front of the door and approached it cautiously. She stepped on a '_Welcome Home_' mat that lied at the foot of the door. Re-L reached for the doorknob without even knocking she tried to turn the knob to open the door but she quickly came to the realization that it was locked.

"Hmm," Re-L thought as she backed away and scratched her head in confusion. It would appear that she is stuck on how to get inside. "I could try using the fire escape and get in through a window. Unless there's a key around her somewhere.

Re-L looked down to her feet and noticed the mat she was currently standing on. She then remembered the stereotype about doormats. That stereotype being the idea that everyone kept a key underneath one. Re-L stepped off the mat and knelt down before it. She placed her flashlight on the ground and aimed it directly at the mat. She then grabbed the doormat and raised it in the air. The flashlight illuminated anything that might be underneath it but to Re-L's dismay, there was no key to the apartment.

"Damn it," Re-L growled and dropped the mat back to the ground. She then grabbed her flashlight and stood up in irritation. Re-L took a deep breath to calm herself and turned back to the hallway she had previously explored. "Alright," she told her subconscious. "I'll just have to find the fire escape. Surely I can get in that way."

* * *

Vincent Law had left the apartment building he was previously exploring some time ago and has recently moved on to search through a completely different building. He ended up finding a way out of the suburbs and into the downtown area which was just as abandoned as everywhere else. He walked down one of the many sidewalks that would lead him anywhere in town that he wished to go. Vincent of course, only wanted to find Re-L and get out of this so called 'phase.'

However, one thing other than Re-L was finally beginning to capture Vincent's interest. After he reunited with Re-L, what exactly were they suppose to do to find the place where Vlad and Pino were trapped in. Vincent had already assumed that they were to return to the metro station and the train would take them to the next location. The only reason he thought of this odd method of transport was due to the fact that he had a feeling Radiation had actually never left the train. He knew the skeleton stayed aboard to do writing or whatever else he was up to but Vincent was beginning to wonder if Radiation was waiting on them.

Vincent immediately stopped in his tracks and halted his train of thought as he spotted a figure no taller than he was. Actually, the figure stood probably an inch to a few centimeters shorter than Vincent. Vincent tilted his head and narrowed his eyes to try and focus in on the figure which stood a good 50 yards away from him. Eventually, Vincent realized that this figure was indeed a person. He was a young man with blue jeans and a red hooded jacket. Vincent could not see the man's face since he was wearing his hood over his head. The man was standing next to a payphone. He held the phone in his hand but he did not seem to be speaking to anyone.

"Hey," Vincent shouted and waved his hands in the air to try and draw attention to himself. He did succeed in grabbing the man's attention as he looked in Vincent's direction. Vincent still could not see his face due to the darkness but as soon as the man noticed Vincent, he dropped the phone and silently walked off.

"Wait," Vincent pleaded and ran towards the payphone. The man shoved his hands in his coat pockets and walked towards a back alley with his head bowed, completely ignoring Vincent as if he was not even there. Regardless of this obvious fact that the man did not wish to speak with Vincent, he still chased after him. Vincent soon made it to the payphone and came to a stop. He looked down the alleyway where the man had taken his leave but unfortunately, or perhaps very fortunately, the man was completely gone. He was out of Vincent's sight, he seemed to vanish like a lost apparition.

Vincent let out a long and somewhat hopeless sight at this. He then thought of the creatures that Radiation had warned him about, the lost souls, and he wondered if that was in fact a lost soul. Vincent soon believed otherwise as he was convincing himself that the lost souls would look more like monsters than actual people. He was already use to seeing unusual entities like Literature with his one giant eye or Radiation who was nothing more than a skeleton in a man's suit.

Vincent had a strange feeling that the man he just saw was not a lost soul. This only led Vincent to ponder on the subject of just who that person was. Vincent would have peruse this person further and he was just about to sprint after him but he stopped himself as he heard what sounded like a dial tone coming from the payphone. He looked back and noticed that the phone itself was hanging down. Vincent also spotted a small note taped over the number pad on the machine.

Vincent slowly approached the phone and picked it up. He held the phone next to his ear and listened to the dial tone for a few moments, wondering who that stranger was trying to call. Vincent looked back to the note one more time and tore it off of the number pad to examine it further for any clues. The note read:

"_It's ringing. She'll answer soon._"

"What's that suppose to mean," Vincent asked aloud. He had no idea why this note even existed because it told him nothing about the current situation. He knew the note was obviously meant to remind the person who wrote it of something but the message was so vague he could not figure out what it was trying to say.

"Wait," he thought to himself. "What if he's trying to call Re-L?" That was the only female he defiantly knew was in this city. With that in mind, Vincent shifted the phone back to his ear and listened closely, waiting for someone to pick up. Although he had a hopeful look on his face, it would be a lie to say he was frightened out of his mind when on this phone. He had no idea who that person was nor who the stranger was trying to call. What frightened him even more was that Vincent had not the slightest clue as to what was out there in this desolate city. He had already figured out he was not alone even if that would seem to be the case sometimes.

None of the less, this was the only lead he had in finding Re-L at the moment. He would simply have to wait and hope that the person who answers this phone is Re-L and not some horrid creature like the ones Radiation warned him about.

* * *

Re-L managed to find an open window in one of the halls of the lower floors that she had already explored. She used that window to access the fire escape and was currently climbing the metal stairs up to the apartment she was curious about. She turned the corner and began walking up another flight of steps which would eventually lead her to her destination. It was highly stressful for Re-L to try and climb these unstable stairs but at least she was nearing the desired floor she wished to visit.

Re-L finally made it to the top of the that flight of steps and turned. She looked to her left where the stairs continued all the way to the roof. She then shifted her eyes straight ahead to see a closed window. Inside that window, even though a curtain was covering it, she could clearly see this was the apartment with the lights on inside.

The woman in black moved towards the window and placed her hands underneath the seal. She pulled upwards, hoping that the window was not locked but luckily it slid open quite easily. Re-L let out a relieved sigh and reached inside the apartment. She moved the curtain aside and stepped inside the small home.

Re-L stood upright once she was inside and scanned the area. She was currently in a kitchen of some sorts. One thing that was very ominous Re-L ended up noticing right off the bat was a teapot on the stove which was whistling loudly. "Somebody lives here," she told herself. "There has to be someone here." With that in mind, Re-L then stormed out of the kitchen and towards a door just ahead of herself which would presumably lead to the living room.

She opened the door but suddenly came to a stop and gasped in fright as she immediately noticed an odd scene in front of her. There in the living room was the usual furniture, a coffee table, a television, and a sofa on the right hand wall. However, the television was turned on but was switched on a dead channel and only produced a loud white noise and static. On the sofa which was what ended up startling Re-L the most was a group of people sitting on it.

The people almost resembled an average family. There was what appeared to be a groan man sitting on the far side of the couch. He wore a black suit and a large white mask over his face. The mask itself was shaped like a crescent moon and reached to be about 2 feet long. The only details Re-L could make out on the mask was two eyes and a mouth, although Re-L still could not see any portion of the man's actual _face_. There was a woman sitting next to him. She was wearing a casual black dress and also wore the same mask man wore. Next to her were two children. One a boy who wore a similar suit to his presumed father and the exact same mask while the second child was a little girl. She wore a similar attire to the mother and just like everyone else, she wore a mask that resembled a crescent moon.

The family of freaks did not so much as even acknowledge that Re-L was present in their home. They simply sat their, each in a perfect sitting posture as they watched the television static crawl around on the screen and listened to the white noise.

"Who are you people," Re-L asked in a firm tone. She was of course curious about these people. They have been the first living souls she has seen since she arrived in this odd, run down city. "Are you people deaf or just dumb," Re-L questioned harshly. "I asked you a question! Answer me!" Regardless of Re-L raising her voice, none of the people on the couch answered her. The remained perfectly still, their eyes glued to the television screen as if they were expecting it to do a trick.

In frustration, Re-L aimed her pistol at the mother. "Someone say something," she demanded. Re-L did not so much as feel eyes staring at her as she did this. She stood their ready to kill the woman in the mask while nobody payed attention to her.

Re-L would have continued to try an force them to speak but she was interrupted by a loud ringing sound from behind. She nearly jumped out of her skin to hear the sound of a house phone ringing away so obnoxiously. Re-L turned around and spotted a small side table where a house phone was sitting. She glanced back to the masked family to see they were not moving and turned back to the phone. As soon as she did however, the man in the mask slowly turned in her direction and stared at her while she answered the phone.

Re-L cautiously placed her hand on the telephone and took a deep breath before swiftly picking it up and holding it to her right ear. "Hello?"

After a few split seconds of white noise, Re-L heard a familiar voice on the other end. "Hello? Re-L? Is that you?"

"_Vincent_," Re-L asked. "Vincent, can you hear me?"

A short pause took hold on the other end of the line before Vincent's voice spoke out again. "Yes I can here you. Where are you, Re-L? We need to regroup and get out of the city."

"You're in the city too," Re-L questioned, while she was technically looking for anyone she knew, Vincent specifically, she was beginning to suspect that she might be the only one in the town. Or at least the only person who is not acting mindless like the masked family sitting right behind her. She glanced over her should and swiftly turned back to the telephone.

"Yes," Vincent confirmed. "I'm in the downtown area. Where are you?"

"I don't know," Re-L admitted. "I'm in some apartment building right now but I'm probably not in the downtown area. I think I'm in a suburb. Is there any place we could meet up?" Re-L had only explored a few streets of this average sized tone but did not see any specific landmarks. She was hoping that Vincent would be able to come and find her, thinking for some reason that he might be more familiar with this place than she was.

"Yeah," Vincent replied. "Can you make your way downtown. This place isn't that big and I was in the suburbs about half an hour ago before I came here. Just look for the tall office buildings." Vincent then gave Re-L a street name. She immediately began searching for some way to write this information down but reluctantly spotted some papers and a pen next to the telephone. She balanced the phone on her shoulder and tore off a small piece of paper and wrote down the street name.

"Okay, I'll find out where that is," Re-L informed. "Where are you specifically though? Are there any landmarks around. What building will you be in?"

"There's a pretty tall building on the left side of the street," Vincent informed. "I'll wait for you in the lobby of that building. After you get here, we'll find everyone else. I think I know how to get out of this place."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," Re-L reassured.

"Oh, and by the way," Vincent inquired out of one last minute curiosity. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Vincent," Re-L replied.

"Is there anything you can use as a weapon or something," Vincent questioned further. "Because you'll need something of the sorts."

Re-L raised an eyebrow at the voice on the other end of the line. "Yes," she stated with a nod, even though Vincent obviously could not see the nod. "I actually found my pistol, but why do I need it?"

"This place is dangerous, Re-L," Vincent announced ominously.

"Oh, relax Vincent," Re-L responded and sighed with a light smile. "I don't think there's anything around that can harm us. All I've seen so far is this family of brain dead freaks that keep starring at the television. I'm actually using their phone right now."

"Get out of there, Re-L," Vincent ordered which caused Re-L to jump slight. "Radiation told me these people are dangerous! Just get out of there and hurry to this street. We'll meet up and find a way out of the city."

Before Re-L could even formulate a response, the line went dead. Re-L then slowly hung up the phone and turned around. She suddenly threw herself to the floor in a fright as she noticed the man in the mask standing only a foot away from her. On instinct, Re-L raised her pistol and shot the man several times. This caused the man to fall backwards to the ground while blood spilled out of his wounds. While all of this was happening, the other members of this demented family did not so much as flinch.

Re-L shook the surprised expression off her face and with trembling hands she finally forced herself back onto her feet. Not taking her eyes or weapon off of the other family members, she quickly retreated back in the kitchen. Once she was safely inside she pulled the door closed and ran for the window. She stepped back out onto the fire escape and closed the window. Re-L then walked over to the metal railing and leaned against it to catch her breath for a moment. She would definitely need a small break before continuing her journey to downtown. At least now she knew to be on guard though.

* * *

Vincent removed the phone from his ear and held it out to examine it for a few moments. He stared at the phone blankly before he finally hung it back up and let out a relieved sigh. He was at least happy to hear Re-L's voice. Knowing she was alright on her own would allow him to relax slightly, but only slightly. He still had to worry about himself, all he had was a knife and what made him most fearful was the fact that he had not seen anything yet. It was becoming more stressful to be alone than it was to be attacked by whatever lurked in the shadows of the city. Then again, that was what Radiation warned him about. If he or Re-L are alone for too long, it will end up rather badly but Radiation never went into detail on just what might actually happen to them.

Vincent then turned around to face the building he had told Re-L to meet him in. It was directly behind him and the lights were off. He noticed this and placed his hand under his chin in a pondering manner. "Hmm," he thought. "If I were to find a way to turn the lights on, maybe that would make it easier for Re-L to find this place.

With his new objective firmly in mind, Vincent headed towards the front entrance which was marked by a wall of glass and a pair of revolving doors. He pushed his way inside the building and scanned the lobby for a maintenance area or something that would lead him to the building's fuse box. The lobby itself was pretty massive. Several comfortable chairs lined the walls while a large reception desk stood at the far end of the room. Two open doorways lied on either side of the reception desk. Vincent did not want to explore those areas though since he really needed to wait for Re-L. He did not want her to arrive, not see him in the lobby and wonder off, thinking he is not even in the building.

Luckily, Vincent turned to the left and on the wall closest to the entrance area was a green, metal door which had a label next to it that read:

"_Authorized Personnel Only_."

"Hmm," Vincent thought. "I bet that door leads to the basement. I can probably turn the lights on from in there."

Vincent headed for that door but stopped as he heard a shuffling from behind him. He quickly turned around only to find nothing out of the ordinary. Vincent then realized his mind was playing tricks on him again and turned back to the door. He walked up to it and pushed the panic bar until the door flew open. Vincent peered down into a dark stairwell which led downwards to an underground area of the building. He glanced over his shoulder one more time before he looked down to the foot of the door where a stopper was attached to it. He kicked the doorstop down which allowed the door to be left open for him and Vincent proceeded forward into the underworld before him.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the outside of the complex. That same young man Vincent had spotted earlier stepped out of the shadows once more and faced the tall building that loomed over him. The man still wore his hood over his head but another detail about him made itself present. That detail was a white mask over his face. The mask looked nothing like the crescent moon masks that were worn by the family in that apartment Re-L was now in. This mask was actually an opera mask. It was specifically the drama mask of tragedy. It was complete with teary eyes and a large gaping frown.

Something even more ominous and intimating about this unknown person that was clearly stalking Vincent, was a fire ax the man held in his right hand. The man then grabbed the bottom part of the ax with his left hand and silently walked off towards the entrance of the building.

* * *

Re-L continued her walk along the fire escape. She was too frightened of the idea of going back inside the building to find a way out and had decided to remain on the fire escape. She hoped that would be able to lead her to the ground where she could continue her search for Vincent and this building she was suppose to meet him in.

She would have been perfectly fine with taking the fire escape all the way down but unfortunately that was impossible. As she turned the corner onto another flight of steps that would mark that she was on floor 3, she stopped to see that the entire fire escape below her had collapsed and was reduced to a pile of rusted metal on the ground.

"Damn it," Re-L exclaimed in disappointment. She then turned around and walked back up what was left of floor 3's fire escape until she came to the platform in between the flight of steps she was previously on, and the steps that would take her to floor 4. Re-L looked to the left where a window was positioned on the wall. She opened it up and climbed inside.

Once Re-L was firmly in the building yet again, she pulled her flashlight out of her pocket and switched it on. She already had her pistol out and ready to fire now that she knew this place was quite dangerous. The third floor was a little bit creepier than the other floors Re-L had explored. There was a single chair sitting in the middle of the hall for no apparent reason. There was also a small tapping sound that Re-L could only hear on this floor but nowhere else in the building could this sound be heard.

This only lead to Re-L rushing through the hallway as quickly as she could. She would definitely like to be just about anywhere else but this creepy place. She reluctantly made it to a metal door at the end of the hall. She quickly pushed it open and walked through it. The door led her to a stairwell which she was already familiar with since she used it when she was exploring this building not but 20 minutes ago.

The door shut behind her which did not startle Re-L but it did make her uneasy since she was already on edge. "I'm close now," she assured herself. "I'll feel more at ease once I'm in the streets," she continued and took the first step down the stairs. "At least there I won't be so confined in these damn corridors."

As she reached the second floor, she shined her flashlight on the metal door that would lead her to the main hallways of that level. She then turned back to the next flight of steps which would take her to the lobby where she could take her leave. However, as soon as she shined her light down the stairs, she saw the figure of a person run across her cone of light at the foot of the stairs. Re-L immediately pointed the flashlight to the ground and leaned against the wall. She began breathing deeply, listening to her surroundings and trying to take everything in.

She raised her pistol and aimed it forwards. Re-L waited for a few brief moments, wondering if the person downstairs would make a sound or something that would let her gain a good idea of where they were currently located.

With fearful eyes, Re-L slowly raised the flashlight once more. The cone of light shined on the foot of the stairs and Re-L jumped to see the person standing there on the 1st floor staring at her. This man wore casual pants and white shirt. One thing Re-L did notice about this man was that he was wearing the same crescent shaped mask that the people upstairs were wearing. The man abruptly charged Re-L which caused her to instinctively fire several more shots at the man. She stumbled backwards and the man in the mask only made it three quarters of the way up the stairs before he finally collapsed.

Re-L sat up after taking a rather abrupt and unexpected fall to the ground and quickly pushed herself back against the wall. She began breathing heavily and was currently in the process of calming down. "_God damn_," she groaned in relief.

After a moment or two Re-L finally calmed down and began thinking over what all has just happened since she entered the apartment. "Now I'm confused," she said aloud. "Why are these people wearing masks? Is this some sort of cult?" A sudden memory just hit her as she remembered the first time she met Radiation and he started speaking about these creatures called lost souls. "Could these people be the lost souls," she asked herself.

Re-L then stood up and picked up her flashlight in the process. She then held up her pistol and unloaded the magazine. She shined the light inside the magazine and noticed that she only had six rounds left, not counting the one that was already in the gun chamber. Re-L slid the magazine back into the pistol and resumed her train of thought. "But if that's the case," she continued. "Then why did none of the other souls upstairs ignore me while that man in the suit tried to attack me. Then this guy attacks me?"

She let out a long sigh, deciding to stop thinking about the situation because it was only raising more questions than it answered. She would have to figure all of this out later. With nothing left to sit and think about, Re-L finally pressed on and left the building to search for Vincent.


	9. The Basement

**The Basement**

Vincent stepped inside the underground level of the building he was currently in. He growled to himself in frustration as soon as he realized how dark it was in this area. "I can't go anywhere without a flashlight," he told himself. This was definitely the case since he could not see the staircase ahead of himself which would lead to the actual basement.

"I think I saw a janitor's closet not too far from here," Vincent continued with a scratch of his head. "I bet I could find a flashlight in there."

He then backed out of this dark corridor and returned to the main lobby. He scanned the area once more for this supposed janitor's closet. Vincent quickly spotted a dark room just a few yards away from the basement entrance. He could easily see inside the room since the door was open. There was a car filled with cleaning utensils inside.

Vincent squinted his eyes to try and force them to adjust to the darkness. He reluctantly noticed a small, red flashlight sitting on top of the cart. He reached over and grabbed the flashlight without hesitation. He calmly held it up for examination. Vincent aimed the flashlight towards the wall in front of him which was completely hidden behind the room's own darkness. Vincent moved his thumb over the switch on the head of the flashlight before pressing down.

The flashlight quickly came on, revealing everything in front of him. Vincent instantly jumped and let out a light shout as he spotted a person standing directly in front of him. This person was a male in a janitor's uniform. What frightened Vincent the most was a large white, crescent shaped mask the man wore.

Out of sheer instinct, Vincent gripped his flashlight tightly, assuring it will not slip out of his hand, and swung it directly at the man. The flashlight connected with the masked stranger's forehead. This sent the man stumbling back. Vincent struck the man once more with as much strength as he could muster. This time, the flashlight seemed to crack his soul and mask. The man promptly fell to the ground, cold and dead.

While his hands trembled from the shock of such an event happening so unexpectedly, Vincent immediately thought of something. "Was that... A lost soul? The same creatures Radiation was telling me about?" This would not be incorrect since Radiation did say there were creatures out and about in this phase that were trying to kill him. Another thing Vincent had only noticed up to this point was how incredibly lonely he felt. Radiation did say he should not spend too much time alone, but he was not specific on why this was.

Vincent was soon able to shrug this horrible encounter off. He stepped out of the closet and checked his flashlight for any damage. It still worked but there was a small amount of blood present on the handle of the flashlight. Vincent used one of his red gloves to wipe the blood off before finally collecting himself. He then started back for the basement area. He walked inside the dark corridor which would lead him to the lower levels of the building.

The young man quietly aimed his flashlight ahead of himself. The flashlight illuminated a long, downward staircase before him. Vincent silently began his ascent down into the unknown. One thing he did notice about this particular phase was that it was much more sane than the previous one. There were no odd worlds he has been zapped to so far. Everything in this plane seemed to be pretty straight forward.

He soon made his way to the bottom of the stairs. Vincent took his first step on a solid floor and quickly realized that the basement was flooded with only about an inch of water. "Hmm," Vincent thought. "I know I'm not below the water table. A pipe must have burst down here or something."

Vincent did not take to long to think about this curios issue. Instead, he moved on. He walked a small distance forward before turning to the left to see just what lied within this basement. His flashlight only stretched for a short distance in this rather large underground complex. There were several different sections that Vincent could enter. He had originally expected the basement to be one large open room, but he forgot this was an apartment complex. It would not be so simple.

There was a small space where he stood just in front of the staircase which would lead him back to the surface. Behind him was a brick wall while a line of three doors lied in front of him. Vincent could already tell he would be searching through this place for awhile. "How am I going to find my way out of here?"

Vincent would have pondered more on this. He tried to plot out a method of keeping himself from getting lost, but his thoughts were cut off by the feeling that Vincent was not alone. He quickly turned around, shining his light towards the stairs and surely enough, he would be proven right. Vincent stumbled backwards to see a familiar young man in a red jacket. A hood was covering the majority of his head, but Vincent could see a tragedy drama mask hiding his face. The man also had black pants and held an ax in hand.

"Hey," Vincent began, not really thinking about the fact that this stranger had an ax in his hand. That, and given his current situation, it would probably be a better idea to run than stay and chat but Vincent was more curious about this person. For some reason, Vincent could not help but shake the feeling that this stranger was not a lost soul. He would be correct but Vincent's words would be immediately cut off as the stranger abruptly took a swing at him.

Vincent reluctantly dodged the ax which came a little too close to reaching his throat. Vincent then turned around, and retreated inside the first doorway he spotted. The man in the mask perused him without hesitation.

Vincent slowed his pace and looked frantically around the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another open doorway towards the back of the room. Strangely enough, there was a light on in that room, but Vincent could not see anything in that direction.

As the footsteps closed in from behind, Vincent luckily took notice into a large plank of wood on the ground. He swiftly bent over and picked it up. As Vincent stood upright and turned around, he practically threw himself out of the way just before the man in the mask swung at him once more with the ax.

Vincent was halfway expecting the man to arrive so quickly, and without thinking too long on how to approach this situation, Vincent instinctively swung the plank in the stranger's direction. He reluctantly did not miss and hit the man in the head. This did not kill the masked perpetrator but it did knock him unconscious. The man promptly fell to the floor and dropped the ax in the process. Vincent waited for a few minutes, but after being certain that he would not wake up for some time, he let out a relieved sigh.

With this obstacle out of the way several questions made themselves present to Vincent. He shook these questions off, knowing they would probably not be answered, and instead he collected himself as he just remembered why he even came down here. "That's right," he reminded himself. "I need to find that fuse box. If I turn on the lights I bet Re-L will be able to spot this building more easily."

"Hey," a voice called from behind. Vincent turned around to face that open doorway he saw earlier. The same exit he was planning on using an escape route if he could not gain the upper hand when fighting with that mysterious, masked individual. "Is someone out there," the voice questioned further. This voice undoubtedly belonged to a male, and Vincent could not help but notice that the man in the other room seemed rather relaxed even with all of this happening around him.

"Um," Vincent began allowed as he relaxed himself and walked towards the room in question. Vincent stepped inside and looked towards the right. Standing there at a table, facing away from Vincent was a man in a thick green jacket and blue pants. The man also wore a green hat on his head. The man did not turn to Vincent but did appear to know that he was standing there.

"My name is Vincent. Vincent Law," he greeted and took a step towards the unknown man. "Can you help me by any chance?"

"Well, that depends," the man replied calmly and turned around to face Vincent. This man had short black hair and brown eyes. He gave Vincent a calm and confident smile as he spoke. "If I help you in this situation. Will you be able to help yourself in the next one?"

* * *

While Vincent was alone with a man of men, Re-L was busy walking through the quiet streets of this unknown city. She kept her eyes on the back alleys in between buildings that she would commonly pass. She was now in the downtown area, it did not take her long at all to reach this point. This only made her more cautious since she has had to shoot down several lost souls that have come out of seemingly nowhere and she only had about two rounds in her current magazine, not including the bullet in her pistol's chamber. Fortunately, Re-L had come across two extra magazines which she located while digging through the reception desk of that apartment building she was previously at.

As Re-L moved along she noticed a street sign to the side of the road. She was now on the same street as Vincent was. Re-L walked on a little further, now searching for the building that fit Vincent's description. She came to an abrupt halt as soon as a large analogue clock fell from the sky out of seemingly no where and shattered on the ground in front of her.

"What the hell," Re-L asked aloud and tilted her head curiously. She knew the clock must have fallen directly from the sky rather than being tossed off of a nearby roof due to the trajectory of the fall. She would have looked up to investigate further had she not have spotted several figures running at her from two different street corners on either side of the road she was currently walking on.

These figures quickly came into the light provided by the streetlamps above and Re-L could easily see that they were lost souls. She counted exactly ten of them running at her. Re-L wasted no time in raising her pistol to the first soul she spotted running up from the right side of the road. She fired off two rounds which both served their duty in hitting the lost soul both in the head and chest which caused it to fall over.

Re-L then shifted the pistol towards the left and fired her last round directly into the forehead of another advancing soul. She did not hesitate in retreating when she ran out of ammunition. The only odd thing about her new strategy was that she bolted directly ahead and straight for the lost souls. She dashed to the right, and ran along the sidewalk right before she completely ran into them and headed straight for a wooden bench.

She reached into her pocket as she neared the bench while at the same time, she released the empty magazine from her pistol, allowing it to fall to the ground. Re-L swiftly pulled one of the new clips she had off hand and loaded it into the pistol just as she leaped up onto the bench. A lost soul ran up to her and without breaking her stride, Re-L grabbed onto the top part of his crescent mask. She then jumped down off of the bench, dragging the lost soul to the ground in the process.

Re-L aimed her pistol at the soul's head and fired, killing a third one. She then ran off to avoid being caught by any of the others which were now advancing towards her. Re-L made certain that she cleared some distance between herself and the masked ones. Re-L turned around after running off ahead a good distance and aimed her pistol for the nearest soul who was charging from the left. She was able to kill this one in a single shot.

Re-L jumped back to clear a more healthy distance between her, and a rather close soul which she had only just now noticed. Re-L then promptly shot the soul in the head. The lost one dropped to its knees and fell over.

As three more souls came around to Re-L's left, she ran off in the opposite direction. Unfortunately a forth soul was running up from the same direction she was currently headed. Re-L abruptly ducked to the ground at the last minute and painfully slid past the soul while at the same time, she was able to shoot it dead.

While still lying on the ground, Re-L turned over to face the three other souls that have yet to stop perusing her. In a panic she raised her pistol and was able to kill off all three before they came too close to her. With only one soul remaining, Re-L jumped to her feet and turned back around. She quickly took notice into the final straggler who was running after her. She raised her pistol one more time and fired the last bullet at the soul's head, killing it instantly.

With the lost souls dead, or at least the ones in this area, Re-L found herself absolutely exhausted. She allowed her self to drop the pistol and collapse to her knees. Re-L took a few deep breaths, and decided she would take a short but much needed break before she continued along on her little quest to find Vincent.

* * *

Meanwhile, the man in question was still held up in the basement of that complex he held himself up in. He was speaking with this strange man who has already previously introduced himself as Karl Vagaer. This was the only thing Vincent knew about this man. Likewise, while Vincent did also introduce himself, Karl seemed to already know who he was.

As Vincent thought of a way to begin this conversation, Karl simply smiled at him in a relaxed and very detached manner. Vincent considered asking Karl what he was doing here, but that really was not important at the moment. He also considered asking where the fuse box was, but Vincent could find that on his own.

"Um," he finally began and scratched his head. "Do you know what's going on here," Vincent finally asked. He was so desperate to find out why all of this was happening to him. Above all, he desired to know what these phases were. He wanted to know why he could not remember anything about his life other than waking up in his apartment when the town of Pripyat was abandoned over night. However, what bothered him the most was Radiation. He wanted to know just who this bag of bones was, and what he was trying to achieve.

Karl lifted an eyebrow at Vincent curiously. While Karl knew exactly what Vincent was asking, he did not what Vincent to know that he did technically have all the answers. "Whatever do you mean by that," Karl asked with false innocence.

Vincent easily fell for this little act, not even noticing the dishonest grin on Karl's face. He looked down and to the right with his usual hopeless expression. "Well, do you know anyone by the name of Radiation? I ask because I think something's happening to me. I think he might be the reason for it but I'm not sure. I'm only asking you because you're the first person I've seen here in this... _place_."

"Well," Karl began. "You might be in luck Vincent because it just so happens that I know a lot about Radiation. I can't tell you everything since I'm still learning about all of this myself, but I can at least part you with a few bits of information."

Karl then leaned back against the table to relax himself further before continuing. "I will start by saying that Radiation has a lot more control over the situation than you may think. Also, I can safely say that you are on the verge of finding everything out yourself. All you have to do is continue on, and you will reach the end of the tunnel shortly."

Vincent looked to his feet in disappointment. "Is that all you can tell me," Vincent asked in an emotionless murmur. "Surely there is something else right? You can't give me any hints or anything that would help me?"

"You act like this will be the only time you see me," Karl replied. "Relax and go about your business." Karl paused for a moment before abruptly widening his eyes as he suddenly remembered something. He then reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a small brass key.

"Here you go," he stated and handed the key over to Vincent. "When you find the red door," Karl explained as Vincent took the key from his hand and examined it. "The door will be locked so use this key and you should have no problems getting inside."

"Key," Vincent asked. "Alright, I'll look for the red door. Thanks." With that said, Vincent was about to walk off when Karl stopped him.

"Hey, wait a minute," Karl requested which caused Vincent to stop in his tracks and look over to him. "Let me part you with a little advice," Karl continued. "This place is very dangerous. So, whenever you know you need to either do something or say something, it would be a good idea to do it as soon as possible. After all, tomorrow is now guarantee."

"Thank you for your help," Vincent replied before walking off to go and locate that fuse box.

He would have left the room, but he stopped himself as he noticed the desired fuse box was actually positioned on the wall towards the back of the room. Vincent headed over for the metal box on the wall. Once he was in range, he reached for the lid that covered the fuses inside. Vincent pulled the front panel back, revealing the fuses. As soon as he did this, one of the fuses fell from its slot and landed on the ground at Vincent's feet.

This would explain why a large number of lights were off in the building. This fuse was not actually plugged in to the panel. "Come here," Vincent ordered the fuse subconscious as he picked it up off the ground and stood upright. He then aimed the fuse towards the slot it previously fell from before sliding it inside. Just like that, the lights in the lobby suddenly flickered on even though Vincent could not see it.

Satisfied with his work, Vincent closed the fuse panel and turned around. He gave one final nod to Vagaer who was still watching him from the distance. Vincent then headed off in the direction of the door to go and await for Re-L's arrival.

"Oh, and one more thing," Karl announced from behind. Vincent stopped just before walking out the door and turned back to Karl.

"That person in the mask," Karl began. Vincent stared at him blankly for only a split second before he remembered the man he was fighting just before he found this room. "His name is Brandon," Karl informed. "He's trying to kill you so be on the look out. You might have beaten him awhile ago, but you'll be seeing him again."

Vincent slowly nodded, signifying that he understood what Karl was saying. This would only mean that Vincent would have to meet up with Re-L and leave for the subway station as soon as possible. He was still hoping that Radiation was waiting there. If he was not, then he would have no idea how to get out of here, let alone find Pino and Vladimir.

The young man then proceeded out of the room and into the area he was previously in. When he stepped into this separate room which would lead him to the stairs, he immediately stopped to see the man in the mask, or Brandon, standing in his way.

Vincent did not move but simply watched as Brandon stood their silently with his ax in hand. "Brandon," Vincent asked nervously. "There is no reason to fight. I'm only looking for a way out of here. If you could just let me pass..."

His voice was cut off by Brandon suddenly lifting the ax in the air and charging for Vincent with obvious intent to murder.

* * *

Re-L recovered from her previous encounter with that large number of lost souls, and was now in the process of finding the building Vincent was currently held up in, but she was having no luck. At this point, the only thing she could remember about the description Vincent gave her was that the building was somewhere on this road.

After a few more minutes of walking, Re-L allowed herself to fall into a sitting position once again. She was at a complete loss as to what she needs to do now. She has walked up and down this street about three or so times. Now, Re-L had absolutely no idea as to how to find Vincent. Her best hope would be to keep roaming this street until either she spotted him in one of the buildings, or he spotted her from his current position.

Re-L already knew it would be a bad idea to actually try and hunt Vincent down in these buildings. For one thing, it would take forever to search the lobbies of each building. Another more oppressing issue with this idea would be the fact that every time she tried to enter a building ever since she left that old apartment complex, she was always chased out by the lost souls. There were plenty of them inside the buildings of this city. Their common presence in dark corridors, and side alleys seemed to compensate for the lack of souls on the actual streets.

Indeed, it would appear that the lost souls did not particularity enjoy the idea of sitting out in the open for someone like Re-L to stumble upon. For the most part, they were probably hiding from her. There were even some souls Re-L had come across who were not violent with her. However, the majority of them were out to kill her. This only added to Re-L's increasingly tense mood.

This was one more thing that Re-L just now began noticing. She was beginning to feel unreasonably depressed ever since she arrived in this city. She nearly killed herself not but around a half hour or so ago, and now she was feeling overwhelming depression. While Re-L did not know this, the emotions she was experiencing are probably linked to that warning Radiation gave Vincent about being alone in this phase for too long.

While something negative was definitely happening to Re-L's mind, she soon shrugged it off as she looked up to the area ahead of herself. Her blue eyes widened as she spotted a good distance ahead with a brightly lit lobby. "That place wasn't lit up before," she told herself and abruptly stood up. Re-L then headed off towards that building, hoping that Vincent would be there.

* * *

Vincent was indeed in this building. He was currently evading Brandon's ax to the best of his ability. Brandon chased Vincent to the right side of the room and once he was backed into a corner, Brandon swung his ax directly towards Vincent's head.

Vincent was able to dodge this as he threw himself to the right. He reluctantly responded in proper time and was able to duck out of the way. Surprisingly, Brandon did not charge Vincent right off the bat after missing like he was doing earlier. Instead, Brandon simply turned his head to stare Vincent down. He knew by now that while Vincent did appear weak and frightened at first, he was very crafty. Brandon also knew that Vincent could easily pull that little trick of knocking him out cold like he did previously. There were plenty of possible weapons Brandon has already spotted. He would need to kill Vincent quickly before he gained any ideas.

Brandon then noticed Vincent had slowly dropped his guard since he stopped attacking. Brandon took this opportunity and swung his ax in Vincent's direction. Vincent was able to leap backwards just in time.

Vincent looked over his shoulder as Brandon ran towards him. He spotted the door which would lead to the stairs. Surely Re-L was either in the lobby looking for him, or on her way by now. If he could escape the basement and find her on the way out of the building, he would be in a perfect position to retreat back to the subway station.

Without wasting any more time thinking about this, he simply did it. He twirled around and ran towards the door. Just as he was halfway out of this room, he felt a sharp pain along his right shoulder blade. It did not take Vincent but an instant to figure out that Brandon had scored a hit on him with that ax of his. Vincent slowed down but pressed forward, regardless of the pain.

Brandon veered back for another chop and just as Vincent made his way through the doorway, Brandon took another swing. This time it was unsuccessful since Brandon accidentally hit the wall instead of Vincent. Brandon came to a stop, and attempted to remove the ax from the wall but it was buried too deep inside the wood.

Shortly after Brandon halted his pursuit did Vincent notice he was no longer being chased. He made it to the foot of the familiar staircase when he stopped and turned around. Vincent then spotted Brandon still trying to pry his ax from the wall. After a few more hopeless tugs to try and retrieve his weapon, Brandon released the ax, allowing it to remain stuck inside the wall.

Brandon then silently looked up to Vincent. Even though he was wearing a mask that covered his entire face, Vincent could still very easily tell that Brandon was scolding him for getting away. Brandon pointed at Vincent without so much as uttering a word. Vincent understood this point as Brandon's way of saying, "Stay here while I go and retrieve a different weapon to brutally murder you with."

Vincent waited for a short time and Brandon suddenly turned around and walked off in a casual manner as if he was having a stroll through a peaceful park rather than trying to dismember Vincent with an ax.

As soon as Brandon disappeared down the dark corridor, Vincent turned around and ran up the stairs. He allowed his flashlight which he was still faithfully holding in his hands, to guide him up the stairs and back into the lobby.

Vincent threw the door open and was immediately enveloped in the bright florescent lights from above. He quickly scanned the room for Re-L, starting in the direction of the reception desk to the right side.

"Vincent," a familiar voice called out from the opposite side of the room.

Vincent quickly turned towards that directly and sure enough, Re-L was standing just in front of the glass entrance of the lobby. Without so much as giving her a friendly wave, Vincent abruptly bolted directly for her.

He grabbed Re-L by the arm and ran out of the building, dragging her along. "Hurry up," he requested. "We've got to get out of here!" Re-L was obviously confused by this but did what Vincent ordered without question.

* * *

It would not be long before Vincent finally came to a stop in a back alley four blocks away from that building. The alley they were currently in was walled off by four different buildings. Vincent had no idea how to get to the subway station from here but at least he and Re-L were finally reunited. Now, they had a chance of figuring a proper way out of here.

On the way over, they were able to locate some medical tape which Vincent applied to his shoulder to prevent himself from bleeding out too terribly much. He was luckily no longer feeling pain from that cut, but if he moved his arm in the wrong way it would definitely not be a wonderful experience for poor Vincent.

While panting rather heavily, trying to catch her breath, Re-L looked over to Vincent with her usual scold she always adopted whenever she wished to speak with him. "What the hell is going on? You freaked out as soon as you saw me."

"I'm sorry," Vincent replied. "But someone was chasing me around that building. I had to get out of there."

Re-L let out a long sigh, knowing there was no use in fighting about it now. At least they were a healthy distance away from whatever danger Vincent was trying to flee from. "So, how are we going to get out of here," Re-L asked. "And how are we going to find Pino and Vlad? I'm sure they're both here somewhere."

"I know where to go," Vincent said with slight confidence building in his voice. He stood upright after leaning against the wall to relax for a moment, and turned to face Re-L directly. "We need to head over to the subway station. Radiation is there and I think he's going to help us find Pino and Vlad."

"No problem," Re-L replied. "I looked at a few maps while I was roaming around this place. I know how to get there from here."

Vincent nodded in response. He slowly adopted a more nervous expression. There was clearly something else he wished to say to Re-L. He kept thinking back to what Karl had told him. He specifically remembered Karl stating that there was no guarantee that Vincent was going to survive these current events. While Karl was only restating an old saying, Vincent only now realized that this concept was to be heeded. Vincent also could not shake the feeling that Karl knew a good deal about what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen in the near future. If this was the case, it would be better to tell Re-L now while nothing was disturbing them.

"Re-L," Vincent questioned in his familiarly timid tone of voice.

"Yes," Re-L questioned, not really noticing anything unusual with his behavior.

Vincent hesitated for a short time as he tried to think of a way to approach this forthcoming topic. He was half tempted to wait until they reached the subway where he was pretty sure they would be completely out of harm's way, but he was already in this little process. Plus, there was no clear indication as to whether or not Radiation was still at the subway. He could have just as easily left which would not be good for the duo.

"Vincent," Re-L stated loudly and snapped her fingers to pull Vincent out of his train of thought.

This seemed to work a little too well as Vincent instantly ran over and embraced Re-L tightly. Normally Re-l would probably kick someone for this, but she was too taken off guard to have an actual reaction.

"Re-L,' Vincent muttered, still not releasing her from his grasp. "_I love you._"


	10. Riverside

**Riverside**

Brandon soon found himself in a different section of the basement. This area appeared to be where maintenance supplies were kept. These supplies consisted of drills, screwdrivers, nails, and whatever else someone would need to preform repairs throughout the building. Anything that could be used for construction was down here except for more powerful equipment that would be more useful for mass building projects. Then again, this complex had no use for such things.

Brandon looked around to the different shelves that lined the walls in this dark room. There was only a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and it was only turned on due to Vincent finding a way to switch the fuse box on, even with Brandon trying to slice his head off with that fire ax. Brandon could even see the empty area on the wall where the ax was hung up prior to him taking it.

Now that his ax was broken, he would need something else to use that could prove to be a nifty weapon. He walked over to a shelf on the right hand wall of the room and picked up a nail gun. This would be effective if it were not for one major flaw in this device. It needed an electrical outlet to power it. This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that there were no outlets in the middle of a street in the city outside. However, the nail gun would have been far more useful inside this confined space. He would have been able to plug it into an outlet back in that room, and still have plenty of space to shoot Vincent in the head with it.

Acknowledging that the tool was completely useless, Brandon placed it back on the table. He then moved a few feet forward and grabbed an average hammer off of the same shelf. He swung it in front of himself to see if he could not gain a better judgment of it that way. The hammer moved quickly, but it was small and did not have the range Brandon desired. He then placed it back on the shelf. It was not that he did not mind getting too close to Vincent since Brandon feared nothing, but young Brandon was also an imaginative individual. He liked more interesting weapons, and a hammer was far too generic for his taste.

Brandon then walked away and stopped as he came to the next set of shelves not too far ahead of the last set. He examined the top shelf first but all it was holding was a few nails, and several screwdrivers. A screwdriver would obviously not be a good weapon since it required a lot of strength to be used as a stabbing weapon.

He leaned down to see what was hiding in the second shelf. Unfortunately, it was much of the same. Just a bunch of old screwdrivers, nails, and the occasional roll construction tape. Brandon tilted his head as soon as he spotted this construction tape out of the corner of his eye. He briefly considered using it to tie Vincent up, and then jam a screwdriver in his eye, but the man in the mask quickly wiped that thought out of his head just as quickly as it had come to him.

He may want to kill Vincent for an unknown reason, but Brandon was not a fan of torture. He saw no point in it, since Vincent had not done anything to warrant such action. In fact, there was not anything Vincent had technically 'done' since this whole situation began. Regardless though, Brandon still wanted to kill him.

With hope of finding an interesting weapon in an uninteresting place was growing slim. Brandon moved downwards and sat on his heels to see what was on the bottom shelf. He immediately perked up as he noticed a chainsaw sitting there. A dusty old chainsaw. He could not figure out why the faculty of this building would have use for a chainsaw. There was not too much a chainsaw could do in an urban environment other than look intimidating.

The only problem with this weapon was the fact that it was specifically a crank chainsaw. It would require him to constantly work the crank to keep it going. That and he would have to move the crank at a constant speed on top of fighting with Vincent. Then, there was a pretty good chance the crank would refuse to cooperate if it struck bone.

Brandon let out a disappointed groan and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He leaned over to check the previous set of shelves once again. He only checked the top one, and did not even glance for the second or third shelves.

He looked up and down the bottom shelf but nothing was there. Only a few dust bunnies and hand prints in a layer of filth were present. This only described how unused this part of the building was. Then again, was this building ever truly used in the first place? Brandon did not seem too concern to even subconsciously give himself the answer. He was only concerned with finding a weapon at the moment, and there was clearly nothing on this shelf for him.

The man in the coat stood upright once more and looked down towards the second shelf. Once again, there was nothing of interest. There was a pile consistent of three nails but no more than that. With minor annoyance growing inside Brandon, he silently turned around and walked over to the left side of the room to see if there was anything on those shelves.

Brandon came to a stop just before walking straight into the shelves. He looked to the top shelf since it was already in front of his face, or well, his mask. Yet again, nothing at all on this shelf. He would have moved down to see the second shelf but Brandon quickly spotted a sledge hammer in a corner of the top shelf. He only thought about using it for a short time. It was heavy, slow, and inconvenient. Sure, it could crush a man's head with a good enough strike but Brandon did not want to carry that heavy thing around with him everywhere. He would grab it if he could find nothing better, but for now, he would proceed to try and find something more useful.

He then lowered himself to see what was on the second shelf. Surprisingly, it would appear that Brandon may have found a decent weapon to use against Vincent. It was nice, not perfect, but an understandable, simple, and convenient little mechanism.

Brandon reached for the tool casually. It was a long, chrome bow saw. He grabbed it by the handle and stood upright, holding it in the light to gain a better look at it. The bow saw was so much lighter than both the chainsaw, and the sledge hammer by far. The only problem was that saws of all sorts did not make good weapons unless one were to find a gasoline powered chainsaw. That would be useful. However, the bow saw was still officiant. Brandon had no problem trying to saw through Vincent's torso with this. Sure, he would still have to worry about cutting through bone marrow, but Brandon trusted his own arm more than a rusty old crank like the one on that chainsaw.

It was clear now, Brandon would use this bow saw as his new weapon of choice.

* * *

Meanwhile, the ominous Karl Vagaer was still held up in that small dark room. He stood looming over that old wooden desk with a light, friendly smile over his face. He stood there for some time, not moving nor making a sound. It was still unclear what his intentions were. He seemed to be helpful to Vincent, unlike Brandon. Or well, Brandon was indeed helpful to Vincent by offering him a quick way out of this insanity, however, this was not helpful in the preferable sense of the word.

He definitely was not trying to kill Vincent, or at least there seemed to be no reason for him to kill the poor lad. Truthfully however, Karl was not all that interested into Vincent. He was interested into something far greater than insignificant little Vincent. He was currently waiting to go and meet that greater power.

Karl soon began tapping his fingers impatiently. He knew Vincent had already left, and from the sound of things, he could also easily tell Brandon was still alive. Karl could still hear Brandon rummaging around in the storage room behind the wall he was currently facing. Brandon was not something that concerned Karl either.

He continued to tap his fingers for sometime after he began doing it. The taps soon echoed off the walls, indicating he was now all alone in the basement, and possible this entire street corner. Brandon left a little while ago without so much as bothering Karl. The two did not seem to care enough to get in each other's way.

Not too long after Brandon left did Karl stop his tapping. He then raised his right wrist as if he were checking the time, which he was. Karl pushed his sleeve away from his wrist where a silver watch was located. He could only see the band since the watch itself was flipped upside down. Karl moved the watch back to its original position on his wrist with his other hand. Once Karl noticed what time the analogue was reading, he lowered his sleeve back over the watch and glanced over his shoulder into the darkness that surrounds him.

"Well, I should probably get going," he told himself casually. "That Vincent guy already got a head start. I think he was headed for the subway as well. I'll just have to take short cut if I want to beat him there. I'll go and visit with that old skeleton before I too part for my leave."

* * *

Re-L and Vincent were now walking through the broken down alleys towards the subway station that Vincent had said was nearby. In actuality, Re-L was the only one walking. She walked rather quickly ahead while Vincent tried to keep up with her.

Not but a few minutes ago did Vincent declare he felt 'feelings of affection' for her, but she was not too concerned with such details. She ended up storming off, telling Vincent she would deal with him after they returned to the metro trains. Vincent was rather shocked to see such a peculiar reaction, but Re-L was a peculiar person. She seemed to be so spoiled for no apparent reason, and she also had a dominant personality. Vincent on the other hand was directly the opposite. He did not feel spoiled at all since he had no reason to be, and he had a more submissive personality to go along with his modest nature.

As a result, Vincent allowed Re-L to continue walking off rather than forcing her to stop since he could confront her about such unimportant issues. It was only at this very instant in which Vincent realized why she was reacting this way. They were literally trapped in a horrid dimension that not only made no logical sense structurally wise, but there were also heinous masked people who were out solely to kill them. He could see now why she would only want to find a safe haven at this point.

"Vincent," Re-L suddenly asked in a slightly irritable tone. He perked up, not expecting her to say anything at the moment. At first he suspected she would be gripping at him about what he had said earlier, but it would appear that Re-L has almost all but forgotten that scenario.

"I thought you said the metro station was close by. I haven't seen any signs for it. Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?"

"We should be," Vincent informed. He was now becoming more concerned with the more oppressing situation. He understood why Re-L was growing impatient. He said they should be arriving at the subway station in 10 more minutes. But he said that 45 minutes ago.

Re-L finally came to a stop and shoved her hands into her pockets. It was becoming more apparent that she was now thoroughly annoyed with the situation. Where exactly did Vincent lead her? Then again, she would technically be to blame for this since she pretty much led the way all the way out here. The only question now is, where is here?

"Alright," Re-L stated. "First thing's first. We need to get out of these alleys. I would like to find a street sign. They should be able to guide us in the direction we need to go."

"Okay," Vincent nodded. "But," he stuttered as he looked around. They were currently standing in a small alley in the middle of a block of buildings. While normally, alleys would only take people from one street to another, the back alleys of this city were more like miniature labyrinths on each block. Vincent looked around, he saw several openings in between buildings, but he could not see the street from here. Each opening would in turn lead to a side path which would take them to an unknown location. To Vincent, they were troublesome, and to Re-L they were flat out annoying.

"I don't remember the way back to the main road," Vincent stated and scratched his head nervously. "I don't even know how to get out of here? Were you keeping track of where we've been, because I honestly can't remember how we got here."

"No," Re-L informed as she turned back to face him with a rather serious expression on her face. "Actually I stopped paying attention a little while back because _something_ distracted me," she scolded and narrowed her eyes at Vincent as if it were his fault the two were lost. In hindsight, both of them were to blame, but Re-L would never except that as the case.

Vincent shrugged sheepishly and lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Re-L," he began. "I figured we would be out of here in no time, but I guess that isn't the case. I don't think it's a good idea to keep assuming things about this place or world we're in. I mean this entire city could be changing its layout on us and we just haven't realized it yet."

Re-L suddenly felt a very light sense of guilt come over her, which was surprising since she had virtually no concept of a conscious. "Don't worry about it Vincent," she replied with a sigh. "I think you might be right about that actually," she admitted and shut her eyes in a more relaxed manner.

"Seriously," Vincent asked in surprise. "What do you mean? About he world changing? You don't think that could really happen do you?"

Re-L nodded quietly to confirm that she was indeed agreeing with him. "Think about it Vincent," she stated and tapped abruptly tapped him on the forehead.

Vincent leaned away and covered his head. "_Ow_," he whined but Re-L continued her little monologue without so much as stopping to listen to his whining even for a brief moment.

"You name one time this world has been consistent with us," she said firmly.

"What do you mean, consistent," asked Vincent.

"All of these phases," Re-L explained. "Or at least, that's what Radiation kept calling them. Have been absolutely insane. They don't revolve around the laws of physics. They don't seem to have a set climate. I mean, you should known that considering we spent half the time in the last phase in a warm underground tunnel system before suddenly being hurled into a range of arctic mountains during the middle of a blizzard."

As Re-L continued her rant, Vincent was finally able to see her logic. This world, or set of phases as she call them, do not make any sense at all. They exist for no apparent reason other than to make the lives of Pino, Re-L, and Vincent completely miserable.

"Now we're lost in a back alley," Re-L complained. "How does anyone get lost in an alley. It's usually just a two way lane. In reality, we should be able to just turn around and see a street..."

Re-L suddenly cut herself off for no comprehensible reason. She abruptly adopted a shocked expression. Her blue eyes widened and she let out a very light gasp that not even Vincent could hear even though he was standing right in front of her. She tilted her head to the right as if she were trying to look at something behind Vincent.

"Um," Vincent began curiously. "What's wrong Re-L?"

The woman in black slowly raised her hand and pointed directly over Vincent's shoulder. He then turned around and fell limp just as Re-L did. He was just as shocked as she was when he noticed there was not a brick wall behind them. Instead, a large open road ran across the area in front of them. When did this part of the world change? They had literally just walked through a set of alleys that were standing right there where the road was now positioned in.

Neither of the two said anything at the moment. They both blinked rapidly to see if it was a hallucination. Vincent even wiped his eyes just to make sure they were not playing tricks on him. Surely enough, they were not. As soon as he removed his hands from his eyes, the first thing he saw was that empty road.

"I rest my case," Re-L stated from behind.

Vincent quickly turned around to speak with her but stopped just as he did. Once he completely turned back around to say something to Re-L, he noticed yet another change happened right before their eyes. Instead of the familiar brick wall that was previously standing there. Just like the one that surrounded Vincent and Re-L a moment ago before it was replaced by the road. However, this time the wall was not replaced with a road, but a river. Just behind Re-L did the concrete floor of the city come to a sudden end, and was replaced with a grassy bank which led down into the water.

"Re-L," he stated with a shaky voice and pointed off in the distance behind Re-L. The goth woman turned to see what he was going on about when she too became just as shocked as Vincent did. She looked out towards the river, unlike in the city behind them, the wilderness beyond was totally dark.

There was a line of trees on the other side of the river but no sign of civilization. The water was calm and clear. It seemed to welcome Vincent and Re-L. In fact, there was even an old wooden boat floating just next to the bank directly in front of them.

"Alright," Re-L murmured. "Vincent, whatever you do, don't turn around," she warned. Of course, saying this only made Vincent want to even more, but he knew Re-L probably had a point to what she was saying.

"If you turn around again," she warned. "This place is going to change again. I'm not turning around so if you turn back to look at me, but I don't do the same as you do, we will end up in different places, then we would never find each other. So just keep looking forward. Look at me or something. I'm sure you'd like that," she scolded and almost glanced over her shoulder but stopped herself just before she did.

Vincent resisted the urge to turn around. He did not want to mess Re-L's plan up. That is, if she even has a plan on how to deal with this scenario. "So, what do we do now," Vincent asked. "Maybe we should keep turning until we reach the subway station? If we turn together I'm sure we could both eventually find it."

"No, don't turn around moron," Re-L snapped without looking at him. "Do you really think we'll actually end up in that subway station? We could keep turning around forever but we still wouldn't find it. From what I can tell. As we keep turning around, we keep ending up in different places in this phase. And from what I can also infer, each phase is some sort of twisted dimension. The odds of us landing in that one subway station out of an entire dimension which is probably endless would be impossible. I can't even begin to tell you how slim our chances would be. We would just end up in oblivion if we did. We're lucky that we haven't found ourselves in some sort of vacuum already. Don't test fate, Vincent."

"Okay," Vincent replied. "Then what do we do to get out of here?"

Re-L remained quiet for a brief moment as she thought over everything. She looked down to the solitary boat which was still floating in the water. She stared at it for sometime before she suddenly made a decision. It was really the only thing they could do at this point.

"I think we should take that boat and head across the river."

"Really," Vincent inquired. He was slightly surprised by her decision. "Why would we go there?"

He had no idea what could be waiting for them on the other bank directly opposite of their position? In fact, as Vincent tilted his head to get a closer look at the forest on the other side of the river, he definitely did not want to go over there. He already had a hard time navigating through a well lit city. He had been on edge all the way through. Now, he was about to have to wonder into a dark forest with absolutely no light coming from it? This did not sit well at all with young Vincent.

In actuality, Re-L did not like the idea either. She especially knew first hand how dangerous this world was. Not to mention how frightening it was as well. A forest would most certainly not be the place any sane thinking person would travel through in this type of situation, but if Re-L's new theory was correct, this is exactly where they needed to be.

"Here me out Vincent," she requested. "If we keep turning around, we'll probably end up in a vacuum and immediately suffocate." She had a feeling this was the case. After all, every dimension had a vacuum of space. From the looks of the sky above, there were no stars. This would mean the only thing beyond this world was darkness. The odds of them turning straight into that airless darkness were very high.

"It's a stroke of luck that we ended up here rather than out there in space. If we take that boat to the other side of the river, then that would be our first lead in finding Pino and Vlad. I think we were suppose to end up here for a reason," she admitted. "I think if we are to cross this river, we'll end up in the third phase. So let's hurry up and get this over with. I want to find Radiation and finally figure out what's going on. I want to go home."

"Okay," Vincent agreed. "Then lets go."

* * *

Back in the subway station, on the train Vincent and Radiation were previously riding in. The green skeleton was still on board. He was typing away on his typewriter, trying to complete the new chapter on his novel. He wrote and wrote. He pulled several more freshly written pages out of the old machine and placed them into the seat next to his.

Radiation would occasionally glance out the window to take a small break before finishing his chapter. It would take about 2 hours to complete everything, not including editing which Radiation would get to later. He placed all the pages in a clean stack next to him and moved the typewriter to the floor next to his feet.

Just as he did this, did a man with black hair and brown eyes who wore a notable green jacket, walked up to the skeleton.

"Hello," the stranger greeted which caused Radiation to turn and face him. "Radiation," he continued. "I hope you don't mind, but my name is Karl Vagaer. I would like to inquire you about the book you've been writing recently."

Radiation lowered his guard and gestured for the man to take a seat. "Not at all," he replied casually.

* * *

Re-L and Vincent soon found themselves quietly sitting in the old boat that was now drifting to the other side of the river. Vincent would occasionally have to paddle, but now the boat was steadily headed towards the bank which lied ahead of them.

Vincent was staring at his feet blankly. For no reason whatsoever, other than possibly impulse did he silently turn to see what was behind him. It was only just after he did this did he realize he made a monumental mistake. He began to panic before he suddenly realized, nothing had happened. It would appear Re-L's initial theory as to how this phase was working was wrong. He could still see the city on the horizon rather than some other scene.

Vincent then turned back to Re-L who was in turn, staring directly at him. "I told you not to look back," Re-L reminded.

Vincent glanced around nervously to try and make a response. Re-L on the other hand surprisingly grinned at him ever so slightly before quickly turning away before Vincent could even see her smile. She leaned against the wall of the boat and rested her arm on the ledge, allowing her hand to fall into the water. Her fingers only slightly submerged into it. The water was cold for a few minutes, but Re-L's fingers soon became acquainted with it.

"Now what," Vincent asked. They were in the boat, but what was next? Surely they would not just fall into the next phase just from a boat ride. Every time they entered a phase they woke up in it. Only now would they randomly end up in one intentionally?

"Why don't we just relax for now," Re-L suggested. "I'm tired after running around that city all night," she continued before slowly looking over her shoulder to watch Vincent from the corner of her eye. "You know, I thought you were going to take this time to get to know me more. From what you said a little while ago, you seem to be pretty interested." She said this in her usually cold and unenthusiastic manner, but this was not something Vincent would ever think he would actually hear from Re-L. He never thought her personality was capable of being so '_inviting_.'

As a result, Vincent simply did not respond. He only sat there and turned away. Slightly red in the face, he was beginning to regret even saying that to Re-L. Although, it was unclear why this is. At this very moment did he adopt a more sour expression and turned away to look at the city. Re-L did not seem to notice his sudden mood change and continued on.

"What, did you fall asleep back there," she asked before fully turning around to see why Vincent was not answering her. She then noticed he was not sleeping, obviously, but staring off into space. This only proved to irritate Re-L. She above all, did not like to be ignored by anyone. This probably was caused by her spoiled nature, and could possibly indicate a slight inferiority complex in her personality. However, it would be heard to imagine Re-L with such a complex even though she seemed to have a massive ego. Then again, her aggressive behavior would lean more towards the latter scenario.

"Vincent are you even listening to me," she asked in a more aggressive tone.

Once again, Vincent did not answer her. Why was he behaving this way all so suddenly. It did not seem in his personality to outright ignore someone. Re-L of all people. None of the less, he ignored her entirely. He stared out towards the city blankly. He did not seem too interested in what Re-L had to say since he was blocking her voice out by listening to the sound of the water calmly drifting against the wood of the boat.

He sat there searching for signs of life in an otherwise lifeless city. Not a soul light flickered out from the buildings on the horizon. Not a single car horn could be heard honking in an attempt to show anger to a fellow driver. Vincent could see not even a solitary soul walking along the banks of the river. Nobody was on the rooftops nor in the streets that still remained visible to Vincent even at this distance. It would appear that in this phase, with a few small exceptions, those being Radiation, Brandon, and Karl; Re-L and Vincent were all alone.

"Vincent say something," Re-L demanded from behind. She was growing increasingly irritable with him. She liked it much better when he was attentive to everything she said or did like a lost puppy, but it would appear the demented phases were beginning to change him, and not for the better.

"Just take a nap or something," Vincent finally replied. "I don't want to talk right now. Like you said, we were running all over that city. Just let me take a break for a few minutes. It's not like I have anything to say to begin with."

Re-L tilted her head at Vincent curiously. From what he said earlier, she would think he had a lot to say but apparently not. "Fine, Vincent," she hissed and aggressively turned away. She then leaned back in the boat and stared in the opposite direction of Vincent in a pout. This was how they spent the rest of their trip to the other side of the river. Not speaking nor even making eye contact.


	11. Phase III

**Phase III**

On a train speeding through a nighttime forest, a skeleton colored green and a mysterious man named Karl Vagaer were sitting in one part of the ghostly train, sitting across from each other silently. The two seemed to be lost in their own worlds. Vagaer was busy staring out the window to gain a view of the forest as it rolled by. The train left that old city a long time ago. Vagaer was becoming more curious as to where the train was actually headed.

While he pondered this rather important question, Radiation was busy typing up the next chapter in his book. His hands typed quickly and he had not stopped working since he finished his break after writing the last chapter. At this point he was halfway finished with the new chapter. As he typed out one of Re-L's monologues in his dark little story, Karl looked towards him with a light yet unreadable smile on his face.

"How's it going," Karl questioned slyly.

It was unclear why this stranger assuming the designation 'Karl' cared so much about Radiation's work. All of this curiosity and speculation was not sitting well with the green skeleton. He did not enjoy seeing so many people trying to figure out what this book was about. Naturally, Radiation wanted people to be surprised by his work when it was finally finished. Several of those people were in fact Vincent, Re-L, Pino, and Vlad. However, he would not say a single word about his book until it was completely finished and ready to hold its own against the critical minds of its future audience.

"I am not at liberty to say," Radiation remarked and did not take the empty voids of his eye sockets away from the paper even for a second. "You'll just have to wait like everyone else. However, I assure you that my work will be absolutely beautiful. An inhumane work of art which will be compared with other great works by future generations. In short terms my boy, I plan to create a masterpiece that will stand firmly even against Leonardo da Vinci's La Gioconda."

Karl smiled at the immense aspiration Radiation had for his work. "Well, that would be quite the spectacle would it not? Imagine for a second, Radiation's work of literary art that puts all others to shame. Although, I find such a statement hard to believe. How do you plan to ensure that your work can match the other great artistic visions of previous generations? How do plan to keep that title even after you no longer can keep a firm grip on it? I guess my true question will be, why is this book so special?"

Radiation immediately and very cleverly figured out what Karl was attempting to do. He almost succeeded in tricking Radiation to speak more on his shady piece of art. Unfortunately for Karl, Radiation was too observant to fall for such trickery. Radiation did however, take his eyes off of his work to glare at Karl.

"That was a clever try," Radiation stated and wagged his boney index finger at Karl. "A very clever try my friend but I cannot say. You really should be more patient, if I were to tell you now it would ruin the effect later. Do you think Vinci told anyone about his works. Nay, he knew surprise holds the greatest effects. Therefore, I shall do the same. You nor anyone else will know what my work consists of until I have finished. Understand?"

"Yes, I do," Karl replied, his confident smile not yet fading from his face.

He tilted his head in a curious fashion but decided not to ask the question on his mind. If Radiation did not fall for the first trick there was only a slim chance he would fall for anything else Karl had up his sleeve. It would appear that he would simply have to wait for the big reveal on what this book is about. All Karl knew was that the young man named Vincent Law which he had met in the basement of that old building had a lot to do with it. He figured once he finally arrived to whatever demented place in the universe this train was headed, Karl could watch Vincent from a distance to see if any clues regarding Radiation's work would be revealed to him.

Karl then abruptly stood up and stretched his arms in the air as he let out a rather loud yawn. "Oh and by the way," he began and looked down to Radiation who, in turn, did not so much as halt his typing in order to shift his attention towards Karl even for a split second. "I hope you don't mind," Karl continued. "But I gave Vincent Law that key. You know? The red one. I'm sure he'll enjoy seeing what lies beyond the red door."

As soon as this was said and just when Karl was about to walk away, Radiation suddenly stopped his typing but did not look at Karl. Instead, Radiation sat there blankly and silently. "Why did you do that," Radiation asked with an unrecognizable tone. Karl could not tell if he he had angered the skeleton or disappointed him. Regardless, Karl did not seem to care at all about Radiation. He was perfectly fine with these reactions. In fact, he was hoping to stir things up a little bit. All for his own entertainment, he would do as much as possible to irritate Radiation and slow down the progress on his little work of literary art.

"Who knows," Karl began in a cocky tone of voice. He adopted a more devious grin as he continued to speak to the now very disappointed skeleton in the black suit. "Maybe I just hate you. Or perhaps that's a strong word. I don't hate you, but I hate what you're trying to do. So, I just gave Vincent the key. Who knows, maybe it'll give you inspiration for your book as well."

* * *

Dawn would soon arrive which would illuminate the river in which Re-L and Vincent were following in the small boat they had seized in order to get to the other side. They were still riding on the boat because of an odd feeling Re-L had. They would have already arrived on land hours ago had she not have decided to keep following the river downstream at last minute. Vincent did not understand why she felt this was necessary. Regardless of how trivial her idea was, he did it anyway.

For some reason, Re-L's intuition told her not to land on the opposite bank back when they had first set sail in this river. She felt that if they were to land on the bank where they were originally planning on going, they would immediately be lost. Her theory made considerable since, they would have stopped randomly in the woods somewhere, and probably would have never found their way out. Upon realizing this, Re-L ordered Vincent to turn the boat towards the direction the current was flowing. He did so without so much as even thinking of provoking debate over the topic. He actually has not said anything for the entire trip which was irritating Re-L even more than hearing his voice. She would occasionally say something just to try and break the silence but it was no use. It would appear that Vincent simply had no more reason to speak with anyone.

The water was calm and quiet. It only produced a tinkling sound as if Vincent and Re-L were sitting near a small stream of water rather than a vast river. The sky was completely covered in gray clouds. They were not exactly storm clouds, they looked more like the clouds one would see during a snowy winter day. It was certainly cold enough for snow to begin falling. There was a thick white fog floating off of the top of the water. Neither Re-L or Vincent could see more than a few feet away from the boat.

Re-L became more and more agitated as time went on. She would appreciate it greatly if Vincent would say something, whether it be him announcing what direction they were going or even him complaining about something. She could not stand the silence. For some odd reason, it bothered Re-L immensely. She hated the atmosphere of hopelessness that this sick world they were trapped in was so fond of producing. It was an atmosphere that was already beginning to take hold on Vincent's mind. He could care less about the situation because he had abandoned all hope back in the city. He was slowly losing his desire to figure out what any of this means. He simply did not care about the situation. Re-L on the other hand was in exactly the opposite position.

"It's cold out today," Re-L stated with the hope of sparking conversation amongst her and the young man who had seemed to have already given up on living. He was acting like a ghost rather than a man, or at least, this was the feeling Re-L was beginning to sense. He was completely silent and from the few times Re-L had turned back to see his face, it was completely devoid of any sign of emotion. He was not even reacting to the cold other than pushing the sleeves of his red outfit over his hands to keep them from numbing.

A few moments would pass and Re-L looked back towards Vincent who was still calmly watching the water flow by. It was as if Re-L did not even exist. "I didn't expect such a rapid temperature drop," she continued to try and trick him into saying something. Even a simple glance towards her just to reassure her that he had not have gone brain dead would be most helpful for the young gothic woman.

Her narrowed her eyes at Vincent which was an obvious display of her irritation. "What do you think about the temperature," she suddenly asked loudly. She could have just as easily yelled this to Vincent, he probably would not have noticed the difference. "I sure wish we brought our coats with us!"

"Shut up," Vincent abruptly murmured without so much as looking up to insult her directly. He merely stared at the water while Re-L's face lit up with anger. This would be one of the rare times someone ever insulted her. The last person she was expecting an insult from was the cowardly Vincent who was probably the most timid yet polite person she had met in a long time.

"What did you just say to me," Re-L asked with a slightly surprised tone. She stood up which only proved to illustrate her state of shock even more.

Vincent did not seem to care about her abrupt movements. He was completely unfazed by this as well which was very unlike Vincent seeing as how he flinched at even more basic movements. "_I said_," he repeated with confidence while his eyes refused to met hers. "I want you to shut up now. I've heard enough of your tiresome complaining. From this point on, I want to enjoy peace and quiet before I reach serenity."

Re-L was not exactly sure how to reply to such a curious monologue. She was absolutely livid at Vincent's out of the blue disrespect for her, but that was only equaled by her curiosity for what he had just said. What was this 'serenity' he spoke of? She was hesitant at first but decided she would address Vincent's rude behavior before she asked him about this supposed serenity. She was worried more so, all of this nonsensical behavior made her fearful that Vincent might be on the verge of losing his mind. It was not such a far fetched theory given the current circumstance.

"What the hell is your problem," Re-L questioned. Vincent still did not look up at her. He sat there staring at the water as if it were about to do a trick. "Are you pouting because I rejected you," Re-L questioned further. A cocky smile crept on her face and she tilted her head in a more teasing manner. "Perhaps your just tired. Maybe you should take a nap," she inquired in a blatantly insulting manner."

A more honest smile appeared on Vincent's face when Re-L finished her little scene. "No, it's none of that. I'm not angry, nor am I depressed. I'm merely at peace."

"At peace," Re-L asked curiously. At this point she was totally lost. She had no idea what Vincent was referring to. He seemed to be in a slight daze. She leaned towards him and could easily see his eyes were glazed over.

"Yes."

"What do you mean," Re-L inquired. "At peace?"

"I mean I'm finally ready for the upcoming oblivion," Vincent replied. "I know what this world is now. It only took me up until now to realize how much I don't care about the message Radiation is trying to push on me. I understand why Literature asked me that question before _you_ interrupted our conversation. I also know the answer to that question. I understand why this world is so insane. I understand why nothing makes sense. I also know how this is all going to end. I'm going to die here in this madness. So now, I wait for that sweet serenity."

Re-L was stunned in that same position for a long time after Vincent silenced himself. She was hesitant once more on how to approach this topic. Vincent could truly care less about the situation, that much had been made blindingly clear at this point. "So... you've given up," she asked slowly. "You're just going to give up when you haven't even figured out what you're giving in to!? Are you insane!? Nothing has happened yet! All we've done is wander around this wasteland aimlessly! We've seen a few of those lost souls running around but they aren't much of a threat. And after all of that, you're still going to give up!?"

Vincent finally turned and looked Re-L in the eyes. He had absolutely no problems replying to this little rant of hers. "Yes," he stated flatly. Then with a shrug of his shoulders, he turned away, averting his eyes downward to the comforting sight of the water.

Re-L gritted her teeth firmly. She was beyond irritated by now. While she still clung to her will to live, Vincent had completely relinquished it. "If you've given up," Re-L asked with extreme cynicism. "Then why do you keep following me? Why not stay here and rot, or drown yourself right here? Admit it, you want to know about our situation just as much as I do."

"No," Vincent said in a sarcastic tone. "Actually, there's simply nothing better to do. Besides, at this point it will be kind of fun to watch your dreams of escaping this world crushed before your very eyes. It will also be a rewarding moment to watch you die. I'll be there to witness it as I await my own fate."

There was nothing Re-L felt she needed to say now. Vincent had given up and there was most certainly no talking him out of this depressing decision of his. She was less angry at this point and more depressed. Vincent use to add such relief up until this point. Now he had lost all hope and had no problem demonstrating it for the world to see. Indeed, it was depressing to see him submitting to whatever was happening to them, but Re-L knew there was nothing she could do or say that would change his mind. From this point on, she was on her own.

In a silent display of motion, Re-L turned away and walked off. She then quietly returned to her seat at the front of the boat. She sat down on the small wooden bench which was less than comfortable, but it was far better than standing up all this time. She watched the river ahead as it led the way to their next destination. She had no more reason to try and fish Vincent into speaking. If anything, Re-L felt that she was the reason for Vincent surrendering so easily.

"You know, Vincent," she muttered, not really caring if he was going to reply or not. "I haven't actually rejected you _yet_. You could at least live long enough to hear my response." Of course, the only reason she said this was to provide at least some form of a moral boost for Vincent, even though she knew it was futile now.

A long time would pass before Vincent finally spoke out. "This place will change you, Re-L," he replied. Re-L naturally glanced over her shoulder in confusion as he said this. She had no idea what he was getting at or how it related to what she was speaking about.

"You'll realize," Vincent explained. As he spoke he began peering down to see what was underneath the skin of the water. He then suddenly spotted a human eye float up just under the surface of the water. It watched him closely and pretty soon, several more eyes floated up into Vincent's view. Eventually, the entire lake was full of them for whatever unexplained reason.

"That this place does not care about the laws of physics," he stated as he looked down to an obvious demonstration of what he had just said. "When you realize that this place is completely meaningless, when you realize how valueless the world around us is. You will be enlightened just like I was. You will understand why I've given up on finding out why all of this is happening. The answer is simple, whatever the reason may be, I don't care enough to find out. It will probably take sometime for you, but eventually, you'll stop caring about such trivial details."

* * *

While Vincent and Re-L continued their melancholy journey, a little girl in rabbit costume was busy running around in an empty field. Pino had woken up in this farming area several hours ago and had been exploring all night.

The field itself was rather quiet. It was peaceful and unlike the area near the river where Re-L and Vincent were at, here it was of a warm temperature and the sun was shining brightly. It was calming for Pino to hear the sound of cicadas in the distance. This combined with the almost ghostly silence made a rather ambient environment. Pino also enjoyed the fields themselves. She was specifically walking along a dirt road in between two fields of wheat.

For miles and miles, all Pino could actually see was wheat. She could see rolling hills off in the horizon, but they were completely covered in the golden crop. The wheat itself had grown almost as tall as Pino. She nearly got lost several times when she was playing in the wheat but reluctantly was able to find her way out. Now she was simply walking alone to see if she could find anyone. Although, at this point Pino truly did not care if she found anyone. She was perfectly happy here in this serene world.

She would have continued walking into oblivion if it was not for an abrupt rustle in the wheat field to her right. Pino immediately turned in that direction to see what on earth could be disturbing her tranquil harmony. She came to a stop and tilted her head out of curiosity when she noticed a patch of wheat moving and shifting around.

"Who's there," Pino asked, those being the first words she's said all day. Then again, she had no need to speak when she was all alone. Unfortunately for Pino, her relaxing moment was ruined as the wheat continued to shuffle around. Eventually, the mysterious individual hiding in the wheat would abrupt fall out onto the road at Pino's feet.

The person, or rather, the creature was a mailbox with a single human foot attached to the end of the wooden post. Indeed, it would appear that Communication had made his return. Pino's face lit up as soon as she realized who it was.

"Communication," she asked with an excited and gleeful voice. "Is that you?"

The mailbox let out a pained groan and abruptly threw himself to his single foot. The small metal door opened up and that familiar eyeball became visible. "Ah, Pino," Communication greeted cheerfully. "I wasn't expecting to find you all the way out here. How have you been? Uh speaking of which, might I ask how you found your way out to this place?"

"I don't know," Pino replied. She looked around to the unfamiliar fields of wheat which she was already tempted to call home. She enjoyed the perfect weather here along with the calming and tranquil atmosphere of this place. It was hard for Pino to imagine herself anywhere else. These fields have proven to be her favorite playground. She may not know how she got here but she certainly did not want to return.

She beamed up to the mailbox with joy. The wheat began to move in unity as a sudden but light and relaxing gust of wind crept by. It silenced the cicadas for a few moments, but only for a couple small seconds. The cicadas would quickly resume their singing as soon as the wind died down. It took a little while for Pino to answer Communication's questions. She was slightly distracted by her new environment which proved to be slightly hypnotic. This was especially the case every time Pino saw one of those large windmills which stood tall towards the skyline. The blades on the windmills were rotating counterclockwise. Every time Pino laid eyes on them, she would stare at them for what appeared to be five minutes to her but would actually end up being a good half an hour. Her most oppressing desire at the moment, was to travel to the top of one of those windmills to see the blue sky above, and to gain an areal view of the endless wheat fields below.

Communication tilted his mailbox-like head at the little girl trapped in a moment of awe. He could tell he was losing Pino's attention. "Pino," his voice rang out one more time which then caused Pino to snap out of her trance. She looked up to Communication with confusion. The mailbox immediately knew what this meant. He sighed and prepared to repeat himself. "Pino, how did you get all the way out here? Surly you did it somehow. Maybe you forgot? And come to think of it, where are those friends of yours? Surely you aren't out here alone, are you?"

"Um," Pino thought as she placed her right index finger to her chin in a pondering manner. "Actually, I am out here alone. I don't know where Vince and that mean lady are at. I don't know where Mr. Vlad is either. And I honestly don't know how I got out here. I woke up last night and I was lying in the grass," she stated and pointed off to the line of wheat behind Communication. The mailbox glanced backwards before returning his attention to the girl in the rabbit's outfit. He found this rather puzzling, but allowed her to continue before he gave his own input on the situation.

"After awhile of walking around, I stopped looking for them," Pino explained. "I'm sure they're around her somewhere, but I really don't mind if they never show up here. This place is kind of fun when you're all alone."

Communication averted his single eye towards the sky. He watched a group of buzzards soar far overhead. They were flying unusually high. This was odd because they appeared to be stalking something as they flew around in a circle. Communication quickly lost interest in the vultures and returned his attention back to the little girl in the costume.

"We should really find your friends, Pino," Communication stated in a more serious tone. "I'm sure you don't need to be out here all alone. I know it doesn't look it, but this place could be dangerous. You have to be careful around places like this."

"Why," Pino asked in confusion.

"Because, these places are deceptive," Communication murmured darkly. "They look pretty but if you don't watch out, you might not ever leave this place. You could get lost on this endless road and never be seen again. You'll become one of the many ghosts who haunt beautiful places like this. You must understand, Pino, nothing is as it seems. While this area appears pleasant and care free, there is always something lurking in places you can't see."

Pino looked to the ground in disappointment. She wanted to stay here. She might have already fallen for the same traps Communication has only just now warned her about. Regardless, Pino was unfazed by such warnings. Pino abruptly adopted a pouting expression. She then kicked the ground and sat down. She promptly folded her arms and kept her eyes to the ground which was clearly her way of making her frustration visible to Communication.

"I don't care," Pino pouted. "I'm glad Vince and Vlad are gone. They were so loud. This place is quiet and fun. Vlad and Vince were both so boring. And I'm glad that lady in black is not here. I would like it if Vlad and Vince would come here with me, but I don't want to see that mean lady again." Pino then stopped her rant and looked up to Communication who was silently watching her as she sat there in her own frustration.

For the longest time, Communication said nothing. He simply watched Pino who in turn had stopped talking awhile ago. He clearly was not amused with her decision to stay here, but there was not much he could do to change her mind. It was clear that Pino was not leaving this very seductive environment. From Communication's point of view, it was a sinister place which has just claimed its new victim. Unfortunately, that victim was his new found friend Pino. From Pino's perspective on the other hand, it was a mystical place that had liberated her from the insanity she suffered when she was with Vincent, Re-L, and Vlad. Perhaps they were both correct in their assumptions. However, it was clear that neither of the two were wrong.

"Alright then, Pino," Communication finally sighed in defeat. "I obviously cannot reason with you, so I suppose I'll just have to stay here and watch over you for the rest of eternity. Then again, it's not like I had anything better to do."

Pino's frown quickly shifted into a bright smile. She jumped to her feet with enthusiasm. "You mean we can stay here forever," she squealed.

A bittersweet sigh was let out of the mailbox as he nodded to confirm that this was the case, no matter how much he did not want it to be. "Yes, we'll stay here for as long as you like," Communication informed.

Pino abruptly began jumping up and down with joy. As she did this, Communication's eye moved up and down as he watched these movements. "Oh," he groaned in his mind. "I hope your friends find us soon, if at all. I hope they'll be able to reason with you. Maybe if you were to see them again, you would change your mind about staying in such a strange place. In such a deceitful and haunting field such as this."

* * *

Meanwhile, faraway from where Communication and Pino were sitting in the middle of that old dirt road, there was a house positioned towards the right hand side of a similar dirt road. This house was surrounded by wheat. It was an old timber frame home. A modest abode indeed. It stood right next to a large windmill where it received its electricity from.

This place had two windows near the front door. There was a small wind chime just to the right of the door hanging down from the roof. As the wind blew, naturally, the metal polls clicked and clacked against each other, formulating a harmonic tune. For the owner of this home, that tune would be a common thing to hear, but it would never be annoying. It was a relief to hear such artificial and man-made noises in such a silent, indifferent, and natural place such as this.

Inside this home was a quaint little living room. The floor just like the walls were all made of wood. There was an elliptical rug lying in the middle of the floor. It was of a deep green which matched the dark green sofa. A small coffee table was positioned in between the rug and the sofa. The house's layout was quite normal, it consisted of hallways and two bedrooms. One of these back bedrooms was occupied at the moment.

In that bedroom where a small twin sized bed was positioned in the left hand corner of the room nearest to the window. There lying in the bed was Vladimir Malikov. He was only just beginning to stir from a deep slumber. He was practically unconscious up until now. His gas mask had been removed which was rather strange. All of his equipment he received from the Soviet militsiya was also gone. His mask was specifically replaced with a white hand rag that had been dipped in warm water and placed on his forehead.

Now that the mask was gone, anyone could see his features. He was a handsome young man with black hair, although that detail about the hair was obviously visible from the beginning. He slowly opened his forest green eyes to see a blurry figure sitting on the bed next to him. As his vision focused in, he realized it was an old woman who was looming over him.

This woman wore a green dress covered by a white apron. She had dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. She seemed to be in her 60s at this point in her life. She had on a pair casual black house shoes which Vlad was unable to see from his current vantage point. He was quite confused about where he was. He only just now woke up in some random home belonging to an obviously very generous old lady.

"Oh," the woman spoke in a tired and fail voice. A voice one would expect to hear from a woman of her age. "I was wondering if you would ever wake up. It looks like you're feeling all better now."


	12. REM

**REM**

Vlad was sitting in the dining room of the quiet house he had previously woken up in. He sat there at the dinner table which was of an elliptical shape and constructed of an old grayish-black wood. The dining room itself was rather quaint just as the rest of the house was. There was an old oil painting of what appeared to be a leader or some sort of military official at the head of the room, but Vlad did not recognize the face.

On the table itself there was a single set of candles positioned towards the center of the table. The candles themselves were not lit nor did they looked to be of use for the past several years. Cobwebs were visible on them just as they were present in every dark corner and crevice of the house. It had not been thoroughly dusted in a long time.

The place was completely littered with dust and webs regardless of how pretty the house actually was on the inside, which was odd. Vlad would think an old woman such the person who owns this humble abode would be more worried about keeping it clean. However, this did not seem to be the case. The person who owns this house, specifically the woman in the kitchen which would probably be the first living soul he had seen in quite awhile. She was ominous in appearance which was no surprise seeing as how the entire world that now surrounded him was even more out of the ordinary then she was.

In reality, there was nothing odd about this woman or at least not that Vlad or anyone else could physically see for the fifteen minutes he had been awake. Yet even though this was the case, Vlad still could not shake the feeling that there was something wrong with the place he was currently sitting in. Other than this old housewife who's husband appeared to be absent, there was nobody around. He already knew this old woman was married because he spotted a ring on her finger. Vlad was hoping to meet the man of the house to gain some more information about the area he was now in but that was impossible since he was nowhere to be found.

The woman had already revealed herself to be named Elizabeth, but she has not yet given her last name. Then again, Vlad was not concerned with the more trivial details about this person. He was more interested in finding out where he was, and how to get back to the place he called home. Of course, these questions had not been answered. Vlad was now beginning to wonder if he should just leave since it did not seem like he was about to find anything here. This house was useless and devoid of anything that might be able to help him. He was already not expecting to find anything. He was probably only sticking around out of blatant curiosity. That, and he had nowhere else that he could technically go, nor did he have anything better to do with his time.

As he sat there, Vlad let out a bored sigh and lifted his arms up and stretched his arms up in the air before resting them on the table. His left hand was placed underneath his chin to keep his head from falling flat on the table. He clearly was rather bored. Vlad has been sitting here for sometime now. He glanced to the old clock on the wall behind him. It was a grandfather clock that was positioned there against the back wall. Vlad glanced at this clock one more time and realized that he had been waiting in here for over fifteen minutes. He could only imagine what that woman could be doing back there in her kitchen. Did she really forget he was in here? Regardless, Vlad was slightly tired and enjoyed his time relaxing here in this serene house. Vlad then began tapping on the table with his right hand for no other reason besides keeping himself awake, and doing something that might partially occupy his brain to make the time fly faster.

Vlad kept tapping and tapping. He mimicked the sound of the clock nearest to the wall. As he listened to the ticking of the clock behind him, he tapped. For each tick there would be a tap to counterbalance the two noises. It became a game for Vlad. He would listen for the tick which would come with ever passing second exactly. He would try to tap his finger on the table in perfect synchronization with the grandfather clock. Vlad kept doing this for the next ten or so minutes. It seemed to keep him occupied quite well which was good since Vlad was becoming impatient already.

While Vlad kept tapping away on the table, the clock suddenly chimed off for no reason. It caused Vlad to jump but the man sitting at the table quickly realized what the loud dinging sound was, and did not so much as look back to the clock. This would prove to be a mistake on Vlad's part. As he sat there minding his own business, something strange happened just behind him.

There was a window on the wall just next to the grandfather clock. It was positioned a few feet away from the clock on the left side. The window granted a clear view of the wheat fields outside and even revealed a windmill turning slowly on the far horizon near one of the many dirt roads that ran through this old place. However, this view of the outside was not all the window revealed.

Indeed, while Vlad had his back turned, a shady figure stepped in front of the window from outside the walls of the house. This figure was that of a man in a formal black business suit. He had a black tie and white undershirt as expected. The only thing this man did not have was in fact a head. This person was completely headless. How he was able to walk or even survive for that matter, was completely unknown and in actuality these details were irrelevant. It was not like logic mattered anymore up until this point. This man was not bleeding out of his neck nor was he falling over. He simply stood there facing Vlad from outside the window. The man then abruptly yet very calmly lifted his right hand. He silently pushed his tie up and turned around. The man then walked away, disappearing into the wheat fields beyond the vision granted by the window.

The grand father clock would stop chiming off as soon as this man left the scene. Vlad was blankly sitting there at the table without even noticing the headless man behind him who's presence would undoubtedly destroy whatever boredom loomed over his shoulders. Vlad waited and waited yet still no sigh of the old woman who owned the house he was now relaxing in. There were several questions that fired themselves off at random points of this dull moment in Vlad's mind. Why did he wake up here? Where is here? Who is that old lady? And finally, where is Vincent, Pino, and that communist lady he hated so much?

Just as he tried to figure out the answers to these oppressive questions, he heard the kitchen door open up. The entrance to the kitchen was on the right hand wall of the dining room. That door had been closed up until now. Vlad looked up with relief has he spotted the old woman walking out with a dinner plate in her hand. She headed over to where her guest was, sitting and placed the plate down on the table in front of Vladimir who in turn, looked down to see what his meal consisted of. It was an odd meal by far. As Vlad looked down the plate, he spotted a large, glowing blue mushroom on the plate. There on either side of the mushroom was a fork on the left side, and a knife on the right.

Vlad had absolutely no idea what to do with this sort of meal. He most certainly did not trust strange mushrooms. It did not look like a large portobello at all seeing as how it was literally glowing a bright neon blue. He knew strange and wild mushrooms were good for only two things, hallucinations and death. Of course, Vlad was well aware that mushrooms were extremely talented in the death department far more than the hallucination department. As a result, he decided to lean away from it and instead turn his attention to the old woman who was now walking away from him. She headed over to the opposite side of the dinning table, and took a seat directly across from him.

"I would recommend you eat the mushroom," the woman began in that elder voice of hers which Vlad was expecting to hear. "If you want to go now. Then eat the mushroom. It will end your misery rather quickly."

Vlad was slightly taken aback by the sudden monologue of despair. Vlad narrowed his eyes at the woman to see if he could notice some details about her overall personality before she even said anything. In appearance, Elizabeth was a depressed woman or at least she looked to be that way. She had a long face as if she knew her life's end would be drawing near soon. When Vlad looked at her in that light, she seemed to have a glimmer of relief in her eyes as if she was waiting for a merciful end to the world around her. Even though Vladimir has not seen his friend Vincent in awhile, this was the exact same look he had in his eyes as well. While both he and Elizabeth appeared horribly depressed; they both remained hopeful as they waited patiently for the end to come.

* * *

While Vladimir was gaining a better understanding of the world around him and the people in it, Vincent and Re-L were doing the exact opposite. They were not finding any answers at all. Re-L was at least attempting to satisfy her curiosity by figuring out what these strange events mean. Vincent on the other hand gave up a little while ago and was no longer interested in so called answers. He saw no point in finding them anymore. He claims to know the answers and to some extent he does, but it would be a lie for him to tell Re-L that he knows exactly what is going on. In actuality, he only had his oddly farfetched assumptions and nothing more.

Re-L and Vincent sat in the boat quietly. Since Re-L's outburst, neither of the two said a word. Re-L did not even attempt to make conversation with Vincent. After all, what was the point of that now? It was most certainly not like he was going to help her in any way she might find useful. He even said he was only sticking around to watch Re-L die which was a very shocking thing for her to hear coming from the mouth of someone who use to be so nervous, cowardly, yet polite and friendly as well. The more shocking thing about this situation which made less sense to Re-L than the insane world she was trapped in; would be the fact that Vincent said all of this right after he confessed his 'feelings' for her.

However, every once and awhile Re-L would glance over her shoulder to see what Vincent was doing. Every time she did this, she would only catch him as he sat there towards the back of the boat as far away from her as possible. He leaned against the right wall of the boat with his right hand holding up his chin. He stared down to the water with a depressed expression on his face. Re-L would occasionally see a very ominous and totally unreadable smile to replace his depressed frown but it would only last for a split second. Vincent was interested in something that was floating below the surface of the water, but Re-L did not know what. At first glance, one would think Vincent was merely looking towards the water in a daze. Yet Re-L was much more observant and had a very good pair of eyes. Even though Vincent was on the other end of the boat and not looking at her. She could easily see that his eyes were not glazed over in thought. He was definitely looking at something, but what on earth was it?

Re-L finally gave in to her curiosity and looked over the edge of the boat. She down peered into the water below. It took her a few minutes to finally see what had captured Vincent's attention. There in the water just under the surface was a single human eyeball. It was colored green and stared up at Re-L with interest. Re-L visibly adopted a more disgusted look on her face as she continued to watch this eyeball. She tilted her head to the right only to see the pupil follow here while it floated in place.

However, this was not the most odd feature about the eye. As Re-L leaned forward to gain a closer look at the eye, she quickly realized that it had the same emerald shade of green that Vincent's eyes had. Re-L stared at the eye longer and soon enough, yet another emerald green eye floated up to the same level that the first eye was, just below the surface of the water. Re-L averted her attention towards the second eye on instinct. Just as she did this, two more eyes floated up into her view a few inches away from the others.

Soon afterward, even more eyes would float up into view. It would not take but a few more moments before the entire river was filled with living and active eyeballs. This instantly sent chills down Re-L's spine. She most certainly did not seem to enjoy seeing this odd display. The eyes all watched her and only her. Even the ones nearest to Vincent turned to look at Re-L. This new face proved to be quite the spectacle for them.

"They appear to be interested in you," Vincent's voice muttered quietly. Re-L immediately turned towards Vincent in confusion. He kept his eyes on the water and a peculiar grin crept on his face.

"What do you mean," Re-L asked in a puzzled manner. Her tone was slightly sharp and bitter. She wanted Vincent to know that she was still angry with him. Although, it was not like Vincent really cared about that.

Vincent still did not look at her and it took him awhile to respond. It was as if he was debating on whether or not it was even worth his time to elaborate on what he previously said. "Imagine being trapped in a swirling pit of darkness with plenty of ways in, but not a single way out," Vincent explained after a good interval of silence.

"You're trapped in there for years if not decades and there is absolutely nothing for you to do. They all have minds," Vincent continued in monotone. "Yet they all remain trapped inside a very cold void that constantly moves and is not solid. Now, they have the opportunity to lay there eyes on something. Now, they have the ability to look at you. I think you are giving them a much needed relief from a place where they are deprived of the ability to cast their vision upon something new, something to capture their interest. I can relate to them in that respect."

Re-L narrowed her eyes at Vincent in surprise. He just gave her a complement not even an hour after he told her how interesting it would be to watch her die, presumably a slow death at that. Re-L perked her head up and was about to make a reply when she noticed something else about Vincent. His facial expressions were far different than before. Of course he was smiling which would drastically change his overall facial features, but there was much more to it. She could easily see that the more carefree yet timid look in his eyes had returned. Awhile ago, Vincent had a more cold and uncaring expression. Now he oddly seemed more lively and in a more friendly mood. Re-L could not figure out what was going on with him at this point. It was as if he suddenly shifted gears for no reason whatsoever.

"What the hell are you playing at," Re-L finally asked with extreme cynicism.

Vincent was surprisingly caught of guard by this. He acted as if he had no idea what Re-L was referring to. It was almost like his awful behavior earlier never even happened. "What do you mean," Vincent questioned back. "Did I say something wrong? I saw you looking at the eyes and I wanted to tell you why they were looking at you. Or at least why I think they are looking at you. It could just be because they're bored." Vincent then realized that by saying this, he completely ruined everything he said prior to the change of subject. "I guess that's the short version of what I said earlier," he sighed, slightly disappointed in himself.

"That's not what I was referring to," Re-L retorted quickly. "I want to know why you're acting this way. Earlier you were being a complete ass. Now, you've decided to go back to acting normal again? What the hell is the matter with you? Have you gone crazy or something. I thought I told you already that I don't need you going crazy on me."

The emerald eyed young man lowered his head in a more submissive manner. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember intentionally being rude to you, Re-L. I don't even know why I would do such a thing in the first place."

Re-L did not believe him at all. "What," she growled. "Did you just drop in from another planet!? You literally just got finished saying an hour ago that the only reason you were still following me was because you wanted to watch me die before I find out what's going on here! Then you kept talking about some weird nihilistic enlightenment you reached! So you tell me Vincent, what's going on?"

Vincent was very puzzled by this. He almost thought Re-L might be going senile, but due to her young age he knew this was probably not happening. He did not respond right away. He tried to recall everything that happened to them to see if he could figure out what moment Re-L was specifically referring to. They met in Pripyat, that day when he first woke up was as far back as he could actually remember. They roamed around his hometown for sometime before they found themselves traveling down a metal ladder which Vincent felt that it was leading them to the center of the earth since it took so long to actually climb down it. They found that old Chinatown which was located far beneath the earth where they met Radiation. From there they traveled through a horrific blizzard, and woke up back in Pripyat. That was the last time they ever visited Vincent's old home before they were thrown into that terrible nighttime cityscape. Out of all of those memories, he does not remember being rude to Re-L at any point. He most certainly does not remember telling Re-L half of the horrible things she claims he has said. Naturally, he did not believe she was telling the truth

"Why would I do that," Vincent asked. "Maybe your just mistaking me for someone else."

"You're the only one who's been with me this entire time, dipshit," Re-L snapped.

"Hey," Vincent muttered quietly. "Now who's being the rude one? I wouldn't say anything like that. And I don't remember saying anything remotely close to that."

Re-L sighed and lowered her head in defeat. Now, something strange was going on with Vincent as well. She felt this whole situation was absolutely perfect. At this point she wondered if there was anything at all that remained normal in this world. Vincent was acting very consistent until now. She would need at least something coherent to keep her from going insane. Re-L wanted at least one thing she knew would never be warped like everything else was. This river was odd, it made no sense, why were eyes looking at her from underneath the water? It simply made no sense and was completely incoherent to her. Vincent on the other hand, just like Pino and even Vladimir, were always the same. Of course that had to change as well.

The woman in black suddenly changed her mood as well. From stern and emotionless she seemed to be falling apart due to the insanity surrounding her. Re-L abruptly turned away from Vincent and stood up. She looked towards the shoreline on the left side of the boat where she spotted a small dock jutting out from the banks. On that dock was yet another horrifying sight this world had to offer. Re-L laid her eyes upon a man in a green shirt with white pants. Or at least, it appeared to be a man at first. As Re-L gazed at this creature she almost instantly noticed that this man had the head of a large green fish. This creature with the body of a man and the head of a fish was ironically holding out a fishing pole. The fishing line was cast into the river. This creature glanced towards Re-L and gave her a polite wave after it figured out that she was staring directly at it.

"I understand now," Re-L announced aloud.

"What are you talking about," Vincent questioned but no answer came his way.

"I must be in Hell," Re-L continued. Vincent was about to speak out again but Re-L cut him off just before he had the chance to say anything. "Why am I in this horrid place," she asked and looked up to the heavens above. "Why am I trapped in this horrid realm of eternal torture? For what have I done to earn the wrath of the benevolent father? Is there some justification for this? Did I commit such a deed that I belong in this surreal world that only wants to toy with me? Can I not be cast into a lake of fire, and melted away from this pit of misery already?"

Vincent was definitely confused by what Re-L was going on about. He was more confused now than when she was babbling about him acting oddly earlier today.

"I see," Re-L stated. "Was I already sentenced to the fate of all fates? Is this the afterlife of the afterlife, or is this something else? Am I trapped in Purgatory or in the sick, perverted mind of you yourself? Am I all of these things or none of these things? _Tell me!?_"

* * *

Meanwhile, Radiation was still sitting on that old train which was taking him to his next destination, wherever in the world that was, nobody other than him was actually able to say. Radiation was taking a break from his typing after he finally finished the next chapter in his little work of fiction that depicted whatever odd things he could come up with.

Radiation placed his typewriter on the ground near his feet, and reached into the right hand pocket of his coat. He then pulled out four small squares of paper which were lined in a stack. These four papers were actually photographs.

The green skeleton quietly took the first picture out of the stack and placed the other tree back in his pocket. He looked down to this photograph to see that it was actually a picture of little Pino. Radiation did not look at the picture for long, in fact, he did not so much as actually glance at it. Instead, he reached into his left pocket and pulled out a red marker. He brought the marker up to his face and bit off the lid. He held the lid in his mouth while he aimed the marker over the picture and drew a red X right over Pino's smiling face.

* * *

Vladimir was still sitting in that same old dinning room with that same old woman named Elizabeth. She went to the kitchen briefly before returning with a cup of tea in hand. The two had not said much other than Vlad introducing himself. He remained quiet because he was halfway expecting Elizabeth to tell him where he is, or how she found him. Or rather, Vlad was thinking that Elizabeth would be curious and ask him where he came from since she did bring him into her home after she found him unconscious. However, unfortunately for Vlad this was not the case. She remained perfectly silent, sipping her tea with an obvious lack of interest.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions," Vladimir finally inquired with hopes that this woman would approve of his request. From there he could figure out where he is and how to find the people he is familiar with. He would not call them friends, or well, he would call Vincent and Pino friends, but not that communist woman with the dark clothing.

"By all means," Elizabeth replied calmly. "Although, I see you have not eaten your mushroom yet."

Vladimir decided to ignore her observation, and instead he focused on the more important topics at hand that did not deal with horrifying mushrooms. "I would like to know where I am. In fact, I think that's all I really need to know."

Elizabeth sat down her tea mug and shut her eyes to prevent Vlad from reading whatever emotions she was hiding from him. "You're in a town," she said flatly. Vlad waited for her to say something else, but the second half to this answer never came. Was that all she felt he needed to know? She would have to be far more specific before Vlad was satisfied with such an answer. He would prefer to know what country he is in since Ukraine is not commonly known for wheat and windmills.

"What town am I in," he questioned further.

"This town has no name," Elizabeth replied. "Or at least not one that I can remember. I think my husband had a name for it, but it escapes me now."

Vlad lowered his head in annoyance. He clearly was not going to get through to this woman. He would much rather prefer to talk with someone else. "Alright then. Could you take me to your husband then? It's crucial that I figure out where I am right now. I need to find a way back to my home immediately."

"My husband died twelve years ago," the woman informed in a nonchalant and detached manner.

The man on the other side of the table dropped his shoulders in apology. "My deepest condolences," he replied before decided to switch the subject to something else. "But I still need to know where exactly I am. Is there anyone else in town that you know of who might help me get a better idea of that? Perhaps someone who is a little more familiar with the area surrounding your hometown?"

"Everyone in this town is dead," Elizabeth explained. "They died around twelve years ago. I'm the last one alive."

Vladimir was positively astonished by what he was hearing. "_What_," he asked in shock. He almost did not believe it. Why would everyone in an entire town die off the same time her husband did? It was most certainly not making sense. Elizabeth sensed his confusion as she opened one eye to examine him before she quickly shut it once more.

"You see," she explained. "At one point, the people here were so joyful. They were very social and polite as well. We always traded our wheat as currency for other things. The only two stores here was an old thrift store and a small market, other than that, we would simply trade with others. Everyone knew each other here as well. Of course, things change and not for the better. We eventually lost the will to live. Everyone got together one night decided to kill themselves via cyanide. I attempted this as well, but I had a defective capsule. It only made me horribly sick. Everyone else was lucky enough to die that night. I had to live on though. All alone."

"Why did they kill themselves," Vlad asked in a flabbergasting manner.

"Because," the woman said firmly. "The people in this town, some of my husband's close friends specifically, met up with a skeleton one day. They said the skeleton glowed a bright green and called himself Radiation. He stayed with us here for awhile before he decided one day to tell us, the entire town, why we were here. He told us what our purpose in life was. He told us that we had no purpose. Everyone, including me believed him. Oh, how I long for the old days before that damned skeleton came along and ruined my personal utopia. You ought to watch out for him, one day he'll get you too."

Vlad glanced over his shoulder before turning back to Elizabeth. "That can't be all. Can you tell me how it happened? Who is Radiation? Why do you linger around this town if you don't want to be here in the first place?"

"I just realized," Elizabeth stated and opened her eyes wide at Vlad. "Young boy, you haven't touched your mushroom. Surely you don't want to stick around this lonely place. Why don't you just eat your mushroom? It will take you to a better place. It's good for you too."

"_Wait_, tell me what happened," Vladimir demanded after realizing that the old woman would not speak anymore on this topic.

Elizabeth abruptly looked straight into Vlad's eyes. As she did this, for no explainable reason, streams of blood poured out of her ears like two red waterfalls. She slowly raised a trembling hand towards Vlad who in turn, immediately stood up when he saw what was happening to her.

"Eat the mushroom," she whispered in pain.

"What's going on," Vlad asked and was about to run around to Elizabeth's side of the table to help her in whatever way he could. However, he stopped himself as Elizabeth began saying something else in a frail and almost dying voice.

"_R... E... M..._," she murmured before her breathing abruptly came to a halt. Her eyes glazed over as the rest of her body fell limp. Elizabeth had died right there in front of a helpless spectator.


	13. Abbadon

**Abbadon**

Radiation was now sitting on a wooden bench in an old metro station. He was searching through some of the newly typed up papers that have been written over the course of time since all of these odd events began. Each page was nothing more than a long running list of words organized into paragraphs which describes the lives of the characters involved, and how their actions effect the overall plot line of his little tale. Radiation then flipped the page that marked the end of the fifth chapter and stopped as the next thing he saw in this stack of papers was a manila fold. That manila folder contained only a few pages which were unrelated to the plot events of the story. There was also a title on this folder which read 'VM Development.'

Radiation moved this folder out of his way as if it was an unimportant paper. He flipped through a few more papers and even began humming an ominous funeral song just to keep himself occupied. He soon came across another folder labeled 'P Development.' Once again, he moved the folder out of his way and continued searching through the stack of papers. Papers after papers, he briefly scanned over each one of them to ensure that they were all in the correct order. He was currently reviewing chronological events while at the same time, he was searching for one folder in particular.

The old green skeleton suddenly stopped flipping through the pages until he came to a third manila folder with a label that was similar to the other folders in this stack of information.. That label read 'VL Development.' This appeared to be the folder Radiation was searching for. He plucked it out of the stack of papers, and placed it down on an empty space on the bench just to his left. Radiation then returned to searching through his newly printed story. He assured himself that everything was where it needed to be. Radiation then placed the large stack of papers next to his empty typewriter. The skeleton would have shifted his attention towards the folder on his left, but he was quickly distracted by a man walking up to him. That man was of course, Karl Vagaer, the only other person at the train station.

"Can I help you," Radiation questioned while narrowing his eyes at Vagaer. In return, Karl did not say anything at first. He merely watched as Radiation glared at him. The two were clearly not friends. Radiation definitely hated Karl since he was the one who gave Vincent that sacred red key which would lead to whatever was behind the red room.

"Nope," Karl replied. "I'll be leaving now. Good luck with your story."

* * *

Vladimir Malikov awoke on a familiar bed in a very familiar house. He sat up rather quickly and looked around. The room was dark, it was the same room he woke up in when that odd Elizabeth character. He looked towards a window on the far side of the room and noticed that it was night outside. The moon shined brightly over a wheat field while the blades of windmills were still turning but just barely.

Vlad slowly turned to the right and immediately jumped at a rather horrifying sight in front of him. There a few feet away from the bed was a rocking chair. In that rocking chair sat a long decayed corpse of what appeared to be an old woman, or at least, that is all that Vlad could tell due to the look of her tattered clothes. The body had visibly decayed to the point where whatever flesh remained on the bones of this person had rotted to a black sludge. The stench of this body also filled the room which nearly caused Vlad to vomit.

"Ugh," Vlad groaned in a disgusted tone. He then remembered what happened her, or rather, what he thought happened here. "Was it all a dream," he asked himself. "Let's see. The last thing she said to me was REM. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up. REM means rapid eye movement which involves an odd sleeping pattern. Maybe I was dreaming but how did I end up here."

Vlad would have thought more carefully on this topic since it held some rather oppressing questions that needed to be answered. However, he knew he would not gain any information sitting around here in this cramped bedroom. With nothing left for him to do but smell the rotting body, Vlad stood up and proceeded to search the rest of the house for any information at all.

* * *

Dawn would soon reveal itself to this frightening little world. Re-L and Vincent had been walking for so long yesterday. They were fully awake the night before when they were roaming around in that abandoned city. They spent the early hours of the morning exploring a vast river. Then they forced themselves to walk through a huge and completely deserted field of wheat for the remainder of that day. Re-L and Vincent slept through the night on the side of a dirt road. They had each made their own little bed out of the wheat plants. It was most uncomfortable but it did do its job in making their night much more pleasant than sleeping on the rocky ground.

Re-L was to first to wake up and she kicked Vincent in the ribs to wake him up from his slumber. The two were now sitting on the side of the road. They were attempting to fully come out of their tired state before they continued their journey through the endless fields of the golden crop and the occasional windmill.

The two were casually speaking to one another. Re-L was telling Vincent about the people she knew in Moscow while Vincent simply listened. There was really nothing he cared to say to her at the moment so he just allowed her to speak until her heart's content. Strangely enough, no matter how well Re-L could describe what these people looked like and how they acted, she could never visualize in her mind what they looked like, nor could she gain a visual of any of the events she was speaking of. Regardless of how vividly she remembered them, she could not imagine them in her mind. It was almost as if those memories were not really hers to begin with, but none of the less, she remembered them in great detail.

Re-L would have continued speaking until she heard what sounded like the pitter-patter of horse hooves running towards her. Vincent heard this as well. "What is that," Re-L asked as she and Vincent simultaneously looked to the left. Down the road from them was what definitely appeared to be a man riding a horse. Re-L abruptly stood up and stepped out in the road in front of the path of the rider who was swiftly headed in her direction.

Vincent narrowed his eyes at the figure. The morning fog was not helping him in seeing who it was but as soon as the person came into his range of vision, he opened his emerald eyes in surprise. The man riding the horse wore a red hooded jacket and had a familiar drama mask on his face. "_Brandon_," Vincent asked quietly. Re-L overheard this and glanced over to where he was sitting.

"You know that man," Re-L questioned. "Well good. Maybe he can help us find Vladimir and that little brat Pino." She then held up her right arm in the air to wave Brandon down. "Hey, hold on a minute," she called out. Vincent narrowed his eyes at Brandon and watched as he closed in on Re-L. The odd thing about this whole scene would unfortunately be the last thing Re-L was able to notice. Even when he came closer to her, he did not slow down.

"Re-L get out of the way," Vincent abruptly called out but by the time he reacted, it was far too late. Brandon lowered his bow saw and aimed the blade directly at Re-L's face. Re-L did not even see this happen. The most she experienced was a sharp pain as the blade of Brandon's saw broke the skin on her face. While this did not kill her, it did cut her rather deeply. Brandon did not stop his horse from moving which in turn caused Re-L to fall backwards to the ground.

Vincent ran over to where Re-L was lying on the ground but backed away as Brandon forced his horse to a stop in between the two. He froze in place and waited for Brandon to make the first move. Brandon on the other hand, wasted no time and jerked the rope which was wrapped around the horses head that acted as a means of directly controlling the other wise uncontrollable beast. In response, the horse snorted and lifted both front legs in the air before slamming them on the ground. Vincent was able to jump backwards before he was crushed under the giant hooves.

Brandon kept his eye on Vincent the entire time. Just when he was about to repeated this process once more and hopefully crush Vincent on the second try, a loud gunshot sounded off from just behind him. This unexpected blast naturally caused Brandon's horse to panic. It abruptly ran off into the wheat fields to the right regardless of how many times Brandon kicked the animal in the sides. It would not be too long before the horse and Brandon completely disappeared into the forest of wheat plants.

Vincent would have waited to catch his breath had he of not run off to see if Re-L was alright. She was currently still lying on the ground, but her right arm was held up in the air along with her pistol aimed towards the sky. She thought cleverly to shoot her weapon, knowing that it would scare the horse off. Of course she did not want to take a shot at Brandon since he kept moving, and she was far too worried that she might accidentally hit Vincent instead.

The young man slowed his pace as he saw Re-L turn to him with a very exhausted and unamused scold. However, this expression was not the only thing he saw on her face. Vincent quickly noticed that her face was practically coated with blood. He came to a stop a few feet in front of her and lowered himself down to his knees to inspect the wound more carefully.

There was a deep cut along her face but it was not too terribly worrying. After all, a saw could only do so much damage in one swift strike. "Well, we're lucky all he had was a saw," Vincent announced as he reached into his pocket. He then pulled out a napkin which he had taken with him in the short time they were in Pripyat. He must have placed it in his pocket while he was helping Re-L with her bullet wound back when Vlad shot her and he probably forgot to take it out. Regardless, he felt relieved that he had it on his person.

Vincent then began wiping the blood off of Re-L's face. She allowed this for only a brief moment before she felt uncomfortable and pushed Vincent away. She then grabbed the napkin out of his hand, and carelessly wiped her face. Unfortunately, she did this in a rather hard and quick manner which caused her cut to sting. Re-L flinched at the pain.

"Yeah, that's why I was doing it more carefully," Vincent informed. Re-L narrowed her eyes at him and handed the napkin back over to him. He took it back and resumed his work. "Anyway, like I said, if he had a knife or sword back when he did that, he probably would have split your head in two." Vincent then caught himself from going any further with the details. He had no idea why he was saying this. It was probably not a comforting thought. For the remainder of the process of cleaning Re-L's face, he did not say a word.

Soon she was cleaned of blood but there was still a red cut on her face that was probably never going to leave her. "How do I look," Re-L questioned, knowing that it probably would not lead to a pleasant answer. Vincent lowered his head which was a quick indicator to Re-L that she did not look very good. This was of course very surprising to come from Vincent of all people. "Well," she asked once more. This time in a firmer tone of voice. "How do I look?"

"Um, you're still very pretty," Vincent explained and almost immediately noticed a more sorrowful look in Re-L's eye. He wanted to lie to her, but he knew that would only end badly as soon as she looked into a mirror. "You have a small cut," he admitted with slight dishonesty. "It will probably scar too."

"Don't lie to me," Re-L ordered while her hands began to shake violently. She could instantly spot his dishonesty and Vincent knew he was caught. "Just tell me. Did that bastard ruin my face or did he not?"

Vincent let out a long sigh of defeat before responding. "You have a gash from here," he said and placed his index finger on her forehead just above her left eye where the scar began. Without touching the wound, he then moved his finger down to midpoint of her right cheek. "And it ends right here. You shouldn't worry though, it isn't that bad."

Re-L abruptly stood up and shoved her left hand in her coat pocket while she covered the right side of her face with her right hand. "Let's just go," she said in a depressed tone. "There's nothing left for us here on this road."

Vincent shrugged and stood up. He followed Re-L as she walked away. He could easily tell that the idea of losing her beauty was not sitting well with her. Then again, that was the only thing she had that was positive about her person. Otherwise, even Vincent would admit that her personality made her vile and easy to hate. If that was not the case then Vincent would not be shifting his feelings for her to something more hateful with each passing moment.

However, even if he was slowly beginning to hate her, he still felt slightly sympathetic for her new problem. "You know, you don't look that bad," Vincent explained. "You can barely see the cut anyway." Re-L did not pay attention to him. She was obviously listening but did not care enough to make a thankful reply. This of course led Vincent to roll his eyes at her. "She's pathetic," he thought to himself and even debated on the idea of saying it aloud. "We'll all die here soon and she's worried about that mark on her face. How silly."

Vincent appeared to be falling back into the rude trance he was locked in before. In reality, Vincent knew exactly what Re-L was complaining about back in the boat. When she claimed that he had shifted personalities on her back in the river, he in turn claimed that he did not remember such, but he did. He knew exactly what he said to Re-L and he meant it. He wanted to see her die at this point. She was completely unbearable, and he could not stand to see her alive anymore. There was a reason he hesitated to jump in front of her when Brandon was charging her. Vincent would have been greatly relieved if she were to die, but instead she ended up with a scar that ruins her otherwise clear and perfectly symmetrical face. Vincent of course felt sorry for her, but he most certainly was not going out of his way help boost her already enormous ego. In his opinion, Re-L needed something like this to cut her ego down to the amount she was worth, and that amount was not very much.

* * *

Pino and Communication were busy running about in the paradise they had found. Or rather, Pino was running about cheerfully, Communication was merely watching over her in a worried manner. He was concerned that nobody would ever find them in this enormous place. He wanted to allow his life to continue as it were before he met Pino. Yet with Communication being the upstanding and very compassionate person that he is, he knew he could not just leave Pino alone out here where she would likely starve to death. He would wait here for her friends to show up. Odds are, they may never do so, but at least he will spend an eternity doing what was in his mind, the right thing to do.

Pino ran through a wall of wheat and completely disappeared from Communication's sight. She ran away cheerfully screaming about something, but he could not tell what she was saying. "Uh, Pino! Wait up," he called out and hopped on his one foot swiftly to chase her down. He pursued her as quickly as possible and soon spotted her as he hopped out of the wheat field they were currently in and arrived to yet another abandoned dirt road. Yet when Communication looked to see what had excited Pino so greatly, he quickly realized that this road was not as abandoned as he had initially thought.

There standing in front of Pino was a tall man wearing an odd sort of military uniform. This man had a gas mask over his face. The right eyeglass of this man's gas mask had a swastika crudely spray painted on it with bright orange paint. He had an assault rifle strapped to his back. The only physical detail about this man's face that Communication could actually see was the fact that this man had black hair.

"Hey Vlad," Pino stated. "This is my friend Communication. I met him back in the snowy place." She then turned towards the mailbox-like entity and pointed to the man called Vladimir Malikov. "Communication, this is my other friend Vlad. I met him back in my hometown. Don't you remember me telling you about him?" Pino had already gone into detail about the people she had already met, and Communication had no trouble remembering what Pino said not but a few minutes prior to meeting with the man in the gas mask.

Communication nodded his single eye at Pino before shifting his attention toward Vladimir. Vlad on the other hand, while he was definitely taken aback by Communication's appearance, he was not too terribly surprised by it. Vlad had already seen half of the craziness everyone else was experiencing while he was on his own journey that led him here. That was won thing everyone involved in this insane scenario had in common. Nobody had a clear destination, they simply moved like jellyfish in the direction events forced them to go, yet they always ended up meeting each other again one way or another.

"Why hello there," Communication greeted while Vlad simply waved back at him in response. Communication then looked away to the horizon before returning his attention to Pino. "Could you be a dear for us and run off," Communication abruptly asked which caused Pino to turn to him in confusion. "I would like to speak with your friend Vladimir alone for awhile. Why don't you go play. Just don't running out of sight, now. Keep close."

"Well okay," Pino replied cheerfully and ran away to go and do whatever it was that she could think of while she waited for Communication and Vlad to continue their conversation.

"What do you need," asked Vladimir in a flat tone of voice.

Communication kept Pino in his peripherals while at the same time he faced Vlad. "Can you help me," Communication questioned in a desperate attempt to get right to the point. "Can you please try to talk some sense into young Pino over there? She won't listen to reason. Either that or she simply does not understand what I am attempting to say. She is convinced that she wants to remain here in this place, but she does not really understand what it is. I would prefer not to be here as well. Can you convince her to leave these wheat fields with you? I'm sure you won't be staying here."

Vladimir stared at Communication for a few minutes. He did not say a word at first. He was too busy contemplating this situation. Finally Vladimir looked back up to him and was clearly ready to make a response. "Why don't you just leave? If you don't want to be hear then run on. Why are you still hanging around this place?"

"Because, I can't just leave the girl out here all by herself," Communication argued. "How is she suppose to survive on her own. She doesn't have the bare essentials and there is most certainly no resources around here!"

"Oh," Vlad responded, now understanding why Communication was doing what he was doing. "Well you can leave now. I'm going to stay here so I'll keep an eye on the kid for a little while." Communication was surprised by this statement. He did not understand why all of a sudden so many people were wanting to stay in this type of place. It was a pretty location and a very serene one at that, but Communication still could not fully wrap his head around why anyone on this planet would want to live here.

"You mean you're actually going to stay in this place," Communication questioned. "Why? What's the point?"

Vlad looked to the ground and slightly to the right. There was a quick way of answering this question which Vlad had already answered this to himself a little while ago. "Exactly," Vlad informed. "What's the point of doing anything? Nothing I do nor what I learn will solve anything. Therefore, there's no sense in trying at all. I just want to fade away now. I think I'm ready for oblivion. This place looks a lot like oblivion to me. So this is a good way to take a step into the void. It's a good place to see before you die. Don't ya know?"

"What insanity do you speak of," Radiation questioned in astonishment. He could not understand what Vlad was getting at. He was acting oddly as well. Vlad suddenly grabbed the assault rifle that was strapped to his back and held it with both hands but did not aim it at anyone.

"I'm saying that there isn't a reason to worry," Vlad answered. "I'm not gonna deal with this craziness anymore. If you want me to end your life then just say it, but if not..." Before either of the two said another word, Vlad turned and aimed his weapon at Pino who unfortunately had her back turned. He fired off one round from his rifle that hit Pino directly in the back. The bullet cut its way clear through her spine, and into her heart, killing her almost instantaneously. Or rather, that is what Vladimir hoped it would do. She fell forward and hit the ground in a lifeless manner. She did not get back up after the fact.

"Pino," Communication exclaimed. He hopped his way past Vladimir and rushed over towards her. "What madness is this," Communication complained in a panic without so much as stopping to look back to Vlad. "Why on earth would you kill little Pino!?" Vlad watched as Communication hopped to Pino as quickly as possible. He was about halfway between her and him when Vlad suddenly decided to aim his weapon at the mailbox.

Vlad shot two rounds at Communication. These hit the entity in the metallic casing that made up his mailbox head. This did not kill Communication nor hurt him, however the bullets did cut clean through the metal and flew off to in unknown directions where they would completely disappear. Communication turned immediately stopped and turned around. As soon as he was about to say something, and instantly after Vlad saw Communication's single eye sticking out of the mailbox, he fired a third shot. This final round hit Communication directly in the eye which caused the vital organ of vision to explode.

Communication fell to the ground in the same way Pino did. His eye was the only area that appeared to be bleeding as well. Each gunshot echoed out into the fields beyond with ringing feedback. Although, the shot that produced the loudest and most horrifying sound was the one that hit Pino. Vlad could almost hear her blood pouring out of the wound in her body. The thought of killing a child was immediately taking its tole on Vlad's conscious. He dropped to his knees and allowed the assault rifle to fall out of his hands in the process.

The man in the mask began breathing heavily. He kept repeating the phrase 'bang' in his head over and over again, mimicking the sound of the rifle as it killed Pino and Communication. Both of them were obviously dead which means they are to never wake up again. Or at least, that is what Vladimir assumed until he heard her whisper something. He could only hear this because his senses were completely open, and subject to hear anything at all, from a drop of a pen to the blasts of his weapon.

Vladimir swiftly stood up and in no time, he ran over to her and came to a stop when he was in range. Vlad then knelt down in front of Pino. Her head was looking off to the left at Vladimir's feet. She was not moving, she must have been paralyzed when the bullet hit her spine. "Vlad," she asked in a frail tone. "I can't move. I heard loud noises. Is Communication okay?"

Pino was not in pain at the moment. The brain kicked in a survivalist hormone which would prevent pain for another ten minutes in order to allow her the chance to escape from any form of danger. This normally happened when someone is involved in a major injury such as breaking a bone or in Pino's case, being shot by a military grade round straight from an automatic assault rifle. Vlad could instantly tell that due to his wound, she would not be able to walk again or even move her arms. He could not stand to see her in such a state. Vlad would probably not be as caring had he not have been the reason for this atrocity. She lied there in her cute yet blood covered rabbit costume motionless.

"Kid," Vlad began slowly as he reached for a holster at his waste which contained a loaded pistol. He spoke in a shaky voice, his hands were trembling as well. He knew the best way to deal with this situation, and indeed the most merciful, would be to kill Pino. By doing so, he would effectively be putting her out of her misery. "I'm sorry but it's time for you to go to sleep," Vlad continued as a few tears ran down his eyes from underneath his gas mask.

"But I'm not tired," Pino said flatly, her childish innocence not allowing her to grasp what was truly going on here. Vladimir hated himself even more when she acted this way during the midst of this horrid scene. He wished she would have died with the first round. Having to walk up, and personally shoot her while he was talking to her was far more painful then simply shooting her in the back while she was playing. However, young Vladimir could not tell which method was the most heartless.

"Don't worry, kid," Vlad replied after a long pause. "This here will put you to sleep for a long time. That little friend of yours is already taking a nap. Maybe you'll see him in your dreams. You never know."

"When will I wake up," Pino asked. "I still have a few games I want to play today. We were going to play freeze tag awhile ago. Can you wake Pino up before the sun sets? Communication already promised me that we would play, but we can't when the night comes."

It took a long time for Vlad to answer this painful question. "No," he admitted truthfully. "You won't be waking back up ever again. But you would thank me for this if you knew what was actually happening. I'm sorry kid. But this is goodbye." Vladimir then removed the pistol from his holster and aimed it at Pino's face. He quietly closed his watery eyes shut and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Vincent and Re-L were walking alone on that same dirt road as before. Re-L was still covering her face. She wanted to hide the humiliating scar from him especially. He did not care about it as much as she assumed he did though. He would occasionally say something encouraging to her, but this only proved to remind Re-L that she had a blatant imperfection on her face that ruined her over all appearance.

Silence crept in after the two heard a series of what sounded like gunshots coming from a good ways up ahead. They could not see who was shooting from their distance, but they were headed in that direction to see if they could find anyone at all in this lonely world.

They continued their little journey until yet another gunshot rang out in the distance ahead of them. This gunshot was not accompanied by anything else and Re-L could tell that it came from a different type of weapon than what she and Vincent had heard previously. The sound of this gunshot caused both of them to halt in their tracks. Re-L lowered her hand away from her face for the first time in a few hours which revealed her wound had stopped bleeding. Now all that remained was a clear cut scar along her face that destroyed her beauty. She turned to Vincent with that same serious expression on her face. "Let's pick up the pace," she ordered. "That last gunshot sounded like it came close by."

"Okay," Vincent nodded and proceeded to follow Re-L to the source of this disturbance.


	14. Skyward

_Note: Ew, this will be the first author's note I've left in awhile for this story. I would like to say that the location Re-L and Vincent visit in these next couple of chapters was actually inspired by another story for Ergo Proxy that I have been planning to write for a long time now, but I don't know if I'm going to publish it. For those of you who find the next setting of this story interesting and would like to see more of it, then let me know._

* * *

**Skyward**

Vincent and Re-L were standing on a dirt road. They looked down to three corpses which lied at their feet. Fresh blood expanded from all sides. They immediately recognized the first two corpses to belong to Pino and Vladimir. While Vincent did not recognize the dead mailbox with the human foot and what appeared to be the remains of a human eye, Re-L remembered seeing this creature before. She saw it hanging around Pino all the way back in the first _phase_.

From what Re-L could tell, somebody was shooting. She could see bullet casings on the ground that looked to be for military use. That would lead her to believe Vlad was responsible but he was dead to for some reason. One odd thing she noticed about the position of Vlad's body during the time of death was that both his rifle and pistol were drawn and now lying on the ground next to his bleeding corpse. The pistol specifically looked to be aimed at Vlad's head where a large bullet wound was visible.

She tilted her head in a puzzled manner as she continued to examine the corpses. "I don't understand," Re-L thought subconsciously. "It would make sense if that man on the horse killed them. He's been the only hostile person I've seen other than those lost souls or whatever that skeleton was calling them. However, they all appeared to have been killed by a gun and I know for a fact that the man on the horse was using a knife or something along the lines of a melee weapon." Re-L knew this very clearly as she placed her hand over the newly carved scar on her face which she simply could not get over. That mysterious man that Vincent called Brandon destroyed her outward beauty, and as much as she would prefer to blame these deaths on him as well, it did not make a bit of sense. There were no visible horse tracks in the area either.

"What happened here," Re-L questioned in surprise. She was not too terribly bothered by the fact that Pino now lied dead in the road. She never really liked the child in the first place. Vincent was depressed but not mournful. He hated the idea that such an awful fate claimed Pino's innocent life when it should have taken Re-L instead.

"What do you think," Vincent asked with an obvious hint of sarcasm. "They're dead. Are you just now figuring that out."

Re-L quickly took offense to the apparent jab at her intellect. "Vincent, quit being a smart ass," she ordered harshly. "I can see that they're dead, I was asking how it happened. There's blood everywhere. I wonder if that man on the horse had something to do with this. Or maybe it was that skeleton?"

"And why do you think Radiation would want to kill them," asked Vincent. "Clearly you've put a lot of thought into it, I'm impressed. Now, tell me more about this amazing theory. Is that old skeleton going to kill us in an unarmed manner too?"

"How do you even know he's unarmed," Re-L questioned angrily. "That man is suspicious. Any sane thinking person would have realized that by now." Re-L stopped herself as she finally began to understand what was happening. Vincent was shifting his behavioral gears on her once more. She sighed in frustration and glared at him with a hint of annoyance on her face. "Stop challenging me Vincent. I need your cooperation, not your input."

Vincent rolled his green eyes at Re-L and turned around before promptly walking away. This dismissive action made Re-L more angry with him than anything else Vincent has done so far. "Don't walk away from me," she called after him. Vincent did stop after she said this, but it was not because Re-L demanded him to halt his stride. He silently looked up to the sky as if there was something interesting up there. Re-L was too blinded by her own frustration to notice that he was indeed looking at something above.

"Vlad and Pino are dead yet all you care about is arguing with me," Re-L continued. She would have gone on and on with her pointless rant but she too suddenly stopped herself. She finally noticed the way Vincent was looking to the sky above. Something had definitely captured his interest. With curiosity overwhelming her, Re-L slowly looked up as well. The area they were currently in was very cloudy. A thick layer of clouds had rolled in just a few moments before Re-L and Vincent actually arrived to the fields.

After a few moments of searching the cloudy sky, Re-L gave up looking for this mysterious thing that captured Vincent's eye. She then shifted her attention downward and walked up to Vincent. "What do you see," she questioned as she came to a stop just behind him. She then returned her eyes to the sky as she saw Vincent point to something.

She followed his finger with her eyes. He was not actually pointing directly up towards the sky but up in the air in front of himself. This would explain why Re-L could not see what he was referring to. She quickly realized that Vincent was pointing to a windmill off in the distance. Re-L then spotted a ladder at the top of this windmill. She was amazed to see that this one single ladder stood at the top of the windmill and went straight up into the clouds. The only way it would be physically possible for a ladder to keep its balance when it is already so tall would be if there was something in the sky that was keeping it upright. Yet it would also have to be something enormous. After all, there is only a finite amount of reasons that someone would set up a ladder in the first place.

"Wow," Re-L said slowly. "Where do you think it leads?"

Vincent merely shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Re-L was almost instantly taken aback by this reaction. "You're not crazy enough to climb up it," Re-L argued from behind which did not seem to so much as slow Vincent down. "You don't know where it leads to," Re-L insisted. "For all we know there's probably nothing at the top. You'll be halfway up the ladder by the time it falls down on you"

Vincent looked over his shoulder and placed his hands in his pockets. "If it was not connected to anything," he explained. "Then it would have already fallen over as a result of its own weight. You don't have to climb up it. But I want to see what's up there. Just go look for Radiation if you don't want to see it."

Re-L sighed in defeat, realizing that she was most certainly not going to get through to him. That, and he also spoke some sense. He was correct. Technically speaking, the ladder should not be upright if it was not attached to something at the top. There must be something up there, but there was no way to tell what it is unless they actually head up that ladder. Re-L was also becoming more and more curios as to what resided there above the clouds. "Alright fine," she sighed. "Let's just hurry this up." With that, she allowed Vincent to walk away. Re-L gave one more glance to the corpses behind her. It was not that she felt sorry for Pino and Vlad's death, but she was sorry for not caring one single bit for them.

* * *

Vincent and Re-L would soon find themselves standing at the very top of the windmill. It was not exactly pleasant to be up here, and even though there was a door to the interior of the windmill, it was clear that people were never meant to be on top of the thing regardless of the fact that there was a ladder on the roof. The only way they could even access the roof of the wind harnessing machine in the first place was to grab a hold of the sails as it rotated to the ground. From there they were able to jump down onto the roof as it rotated back upwards.

Vincent was the first to plant his feet on the roof. He then turned around to see Re-L was still holding onto the sail she originally grabbed a hold of, waiting for it to reach an appropriate angle to jump off from. Eventually, the sail lined her up perfectly with the roof and Re-L jumped off and landed next to Vincent.

"Ugh," Re-L groaned and Vincent snickered at her.

"Don't relax yet," he warned and pointed towards the ladder which was now not but a few feet away from them. "The worst is still yet to come."

Re-L glared at the ladder and gestured for him to proceed. "You first," she requested. "I'm not getting on that thing until I know for certain that it's completely stable and sound," she informed. Vincent shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the ladder. He was not too intimidated by it.

He grabbed a hold of one of the rungs in front of him. He then shook the ladder violently but it did not move just as he suspected. "It's fine," he called out to Re-L and abruptly began climbing up the seemingly endless ladder.

Re-L gritted her teeth and looked up. She watched Vincent continue to elevate himself as if there was no problem at all. She really did not know why she was having such a hard time forcing herself to climb up after him. She had no problems climbing down that endless ladder which arguable led them to the first phase and eventually to the insane situation they were now enthralled with. However, there was one difference between that underground ladder and this one. At least with the first ladder, it was so dark that Re-L could not see the end. She assumed it was just a short ways down but by the time she realized this was not the case, she was already comfortable with the thought of going down more. Now, she knew just how tall it was, or at least this was the only part of the ladder that she could see, it could very easily reach up into the atmosphere for all she knew.

It was possible that Re-L had a slight fear of heights, only a slight one though. Regardless however, she refused to allow Vincent to upstage her and make himself appear more courageous than she was. In actuality, Vincent merely stopped caring about his own life which allowed him to do just about anything that a normal person would be to afraid to attempt. Yet in Re-L's egotistical mind, she still had to prove herself better than him and anyone else that might be lurking nearby. With that in mind, Re-L finally stepped up to the ladder and grabbed one of the rungs that was just in her reach. She then pulled herself up, and began following Vincent who was already a good distance above her and was not slowing his pace for anything.

After about twelve minutes of heading up this endless ladder which led to the sun for all anyone knew, Re-L was finally nearing the line of clouds above. Vincent had already disappeared within them a little while ago but that was only due to him being so far ahead of her. She looked up and only just now noticed that Vincent was far up in the clouds and out of her sight. "Damn, am I really that slow," she asked herself and began climbing faster. Eventually, she too would arrive in the clouds.

It was foggy up here but then again that was to be expected. It was also unbearably windy up at this altitude. The air was thinner and harder to breath as well. Re-L was almost expecting a plane to come by and ram her at any point. That would be one of the dangers of being this high in the air but the odds of that happening were next to none. However, it was when Re-L thought of that type of scenario that she began wondering if there was anyone else in this world at all. She had not see a soul since they last saw Brandon. Was everyone else dead by now? Is it true that she and Vincent were the last ones left?

* * *

Meanwhile, at a very classy restaurant somewhere in the oblivion beyond, Radiation was walking up to the building. Other skeletons wearing both dresses and suits just as he was. The only difference was that unlike Radiation, the other skeletons here were not green. They were all colored just as one would expect from a man made of bones. They were all given a bleached white color on their bones.

Radiation came to a stop as soon as he entered the building. He looked around to the different tables to see if he could spot the people he had originally set out to meet. Soon enough, he spotted a group of familiar skeletons sitting at a booth towards the back of the restaurant near one of the large windows that granted a view of the starry sky above. That was another odd detail about the place Radiation was now in, it was daytime where Vincent and Re-L were but here the sun had already set a few hours ago.

Suddenly, a skeleton in a black suit similar to Radiation's walked up to the green skeleton. "Good evening, sir," the skeleton greeted with a bow. "Welcome, may I point you to a table? Would you rather partake in an indoor booth, or an outdoor?"

Radiation turned and looked towards the doorman. He then turned away and pointed to his friends who were talking amongst themselves at the booth nearest to that large window. "I'm suppose to be meeting them here," he informed.

"Ah, right you are," the doorman replied as he suddenly remembered that the table Radiation was pointing to was expecting one more person to arrive. "Well, carry on then good sir," the doorman continued. "If you need anything the waitress will be by later to take your orders. I don't think your friends have ordered their meals either. They must have been waiting on you all this time."

"Yes," Radiation agreed. "As a matter of fact, I would slightly expect that. They are quite a good set of colleagues I find. Thank you for your assistance," Radiation continued and gave one final nod to the doorman. "But I'll see myself over there." With that last statement made, Radiation walked off to go and rendezvous with his friends who were already sitting at the table, waiting on him.

"If that is your wish," the doorman replied and waved him a fond farewell before he too returned to his duties to keep watch over the door and the people coming through it.

* * *

Re-L finally made it out of the thick layer of clouds. She looked around and spotted the thick skin of the clouds were now positioned just to her waste. She sighed with relief when she realized she was out of the clouds. She absolutely hated climbing through them. The reason for this was because of how nervous they made her. She could barely see anything when she was among the clouds. They were also causing the rungs on the ladder to become slippery with the moisture the clouds were made of, but now Re-L did not have to worry about such a thing.

She shifted her eyes upwards to see what Vincent was doing. She abruptly let out a gasp when she saw what was above her. Vincent was definitely there. He was still a good distance away from her, climbing up the latter rather quickly, but that was not what she was concerned about. Re-L was astonished to see a massive object covering her view of the sky. It was most certainly no cloud, she could not tell what it is. The only thing she could see was that the ladder led straight to it. "Uh," Re-L stuttered. "What the hell is that thing?" She then quickly moved on, climbing up faster than Vincent currently was just because she wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery.

* * *

It would take a good hour and a half longer, but Re-L and Vincent would soon come close enough to the odd object before she gained a good look at it. She looked up as she noticed the shadow of this immense was now completely over taking her. She quickly noticed that Vincent was already climbing up into this unknown object. "What is this," Re-L questioned herself for about the tenth time. She asked this every time she saw something new about the object above. At first she said this at the mere sight of seeing. The second would be when she finally realized just how massive it was. The third and more recent time she questioned this object's existence was when she spotted a large group of incredibly long vines growing from the bottom. Now, the fourth time she asks this old question, she sees what Vincent is climbing into. There just above her, the ladder lead right into an odd vent of some sort. This small metal tunnel was glowing red due to several lights inside. It was a square framed tunnel that led to who knows where. All she knew at this point was that whatever this object was; it is definitely organic, but it has not gone untouched by humanity.

Soon, Re-L too climbed her way up into this cramped ventilation. She could not see what lied above her since Vincent was blocking the way. She looked around to the tightly enclosed walls which made everything far more claustrophobic for her. She had at least gotten use to the height though, but then again that was probably due to her not looking down for the entire time she and Vincent had been climbing up this insane ladder to a place which was most likely just as insane.

* * *

Radiation took a seat at the booth where his other friends were already sitting. There were four total skeletons at the table, not counting Radiation. There was one skeleton sitting on the opposite side of the table nearest to the window. She wore a silk red dress and a pearl necklace. Her hair was gray and looked as one would expect from a corpse. Her name was Culture, and she was one of Radiation's few good friends.

The skeleton sitting across from her, looking out to the window wore a brown suit and a fedora on his skull. His name was Charisma, yet another long time friend of Radiation. However, unlike his other colleagues sitting next to him, Charisma was far more skeptical of Radiation's methods. Charisma was always kind, but that did not stop him from being a covertly cynical person. Radiation was a sketchy character to begin with, Charisma immediately saw this when they first met unlike his other friends.

The skeleton sitting next to Culture was named Philosophy. Philosophy was a more irritable soul, but did his best to be as polite as possible even when he was not in the best of moods. Philosophy wore a black suit, and an odd opera cape to match his suit.

The final skeleton which sat in between Charisma and where Radiation was standing was named Religion. This skeleton wore an average black suit with the white and black collar around his neck that was stereotypical of the Catholic priest. Religion was a very zealous individual. He was really only concerned with his own philosophical ideals. He could care less about anyone else, including Radiation. That meant that Religion was completely indifferent to whatever Radiation's goals were. Indeed, Religion was about as receptive as Charisma was, but unlike Charisma, Religion did not care very much whether or not someone was acting suspiciously or not. As long as it did not interfere with him directly, Religion did not involve himself. The only time he did care was when someone else tried to argue with him, then Religion was completely involved and would not yield to anyone else.

"Good evening all," Radiation greeted and took a seat next to Religion. Everyone turned and nodded their skulls to him simultaneous.

"Well, how are you doing," Culture greeted. She was always as nice as possible to anyone she met. She did not see anything wrong with the way Radiation behaved. Sure, he often hid details about his life from her and the others but she figured that was probably a normal thing to expect from someone who does not want to give too much information out for the world to behold.

"Radiation," Philosophy exclaimed in a friendly southern-esque accent. "I know you just arrived and all but you simply must comment on this new novel I've been hearing so much about. I spoke with Literature not but a few days ago. He spoke highly of you and an apparent book you've been writing. What is it about?"

Before the green skeleton could give his input on the topic he kept most secret for whatever reason, a waiter walked up to them which interrupted Radiation just as he was about to make his reply. This waiter was a dead man just like the other people in this restaurant, however, unlike the skeletons, there was still a few patches of flesh on his body. He was still decaying which made the scene all the more morbid.

"Ah," Radiation began as he immediately knew what the waiter was about to ask him. "I'll have a glass of vodka please. And just bring me whatever brand, I'm not too terribly picky when it comes to vodka." The waiter nodded at the request and walked away.

Radiation then turned back to face his dear friend Philosophy and hopefully answer the questions any questions he may have about this topic without spoiling his work too much. "Well, I will say a few things about this book but I do not wish to ruin the experience for anyone so forgive my secrecy," Radiation explained.

While everyone else was interested in what he had to say, Charisma covertly glared at him from the other side of the table. "Has there ever been a thing you've haven't kept secret in some way or another," Charisma questioned subconsciously while everyone but him seemed to be more enthusiastic with what Radiation was saying.

"My word," Culture stated in astonishment. "You, writing a book? Is it romantic? Is it a tragedy? Oh, do tell us, please!"

"Now, now," Radiation chuckled and waved the questions away dismissively. "I can't give any major information about the story now since it is not complete, but I will say that the title is _Ergo_ _Proxy_. Or at least, that is what I'm calling it now. I'm debating between that and another name but I think I will be calling it, Ergo Proxy."

* * *

Vincent appeared to have found the top of the ladder at long last. Re-L stopped her climbing and watched as Vincent hoisted himself up onto a surface she could not see. He then moved out of sight. With him out of the way, Re-L could actually see a light above her. "Finally," she thought to herself. "It's about time this thing comes to an end."

Re-L forced herself to climb faster and eventually, she too came to the top of the ladder. She pulled herself out of that cramped ventilation shaft. She then took a seat onto the surface which surrounded the vent. She could feel grass in her hands when she placed them on the ground. Of course, the fact that grass was thousands of feet high in the sky was the least of her concerns. Re-L's eyes widened as she saw what type of place this was. She could see large rocks floating around in the sky. But large rocks in the sky was not all she saw. The most awe inspiring thing was that a lot of these rocks were the size if islands. They had their own little ecosystems on them. Grass covered the top of these sky islands as if it was a patch of ground that one would normally expect to see on the surface. There were trees also growing on these islands along with a wide verity of colorful flowers. Re-L even spotted one island in the distance that had a waterfall running off of it and into oblivion.

She could not believe her eyes. There was even on some of the islands, small houses constructed of stone and timber framing. There was nobody around though. Not a soul was in sight, and Re-L could already tell that she and Vincent were the only people around, but she could care less. This appeared to be her own personal paradise. She looked around and eventually spotted a network of bridges constructed of either cobblestone or wood, they each connected all the different islands together. Thus, making each and every one of them accessible to her.

Re-L stood up slowly. She took a few steps in a cautious manner as if she was fearful that the ground below her would give way at any moment. Re-L turned around just to see where Vincent had run off to. At this point she most certainly did not care but he did pop into her brain which was the only reason she thought to look for him. She then spotted him sitting under a tree off behind her. She abruptly smiled at him. It was an unexpected scene, Re-L Mayer was actually smiling. She positively loved this place, and she had only been here for a few minutes now. She loved the idea of a place like this. A place where sky and ground collided into one tranquil environment. How could she not smile amidst such a paradise.

Re-L then got an idea. She felt curious as to what the world below looked like all the way up here. She had never anything from on high. Never once had she been given the opportunity to ride in a plane nor see the surface of the world from such an areal perspective. Re-L then ran to the nearest cliff side, and came to a stop just before she fell of the island itself. Re-L was unfortunately disappointed to see nothing more than that line of clouds she had to climb through earlier. She forgot about them. They were right in the middle of her potential view of the world below. Re-L gritted her teeth in anger and clenched her hands into fists.

"_Dammit_," she muttered to herself. She then paused in thought as she heard Vincent walk up from behind her. Re-L quickly turned around and attempted to wipe that joyous smile off of her face to prevent him from seeing it. Unfortunately for her, she was not very good at doing this. Vincent liked her smile but did not comment on it. Re-L abruptly remembered something after he saw Vincent smiling at her. He was smiling with a completely clear complexion. Seeing his flawless face reminded her that she now had a rather major deformity on her own face. She quickly covered the scar that Brandon had left in between her eyes. Amid all this time climbing the ladder and finding a place that Re-L truly enjoyed to be in, she completely forgot about her newly acquired imperfection.

"You know, Re-L," Vincent began in a murmuring tone as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Re-L studied his smile as he continued speaking to her. It was hard to read. He could not tell if he was mocking her with that grin, or if he was genuinely happy to see her having such a good time. Normally, she could read his mind just by looking into his eyes but that cannot be done when they are closed in a cheerful manner. "I don't think the scar is that big of a deal," Vincent continued. He instantly knew that she was hiding it from him. Re-L rolled her eyes at him but that did not stop him from speaking his mind on the matter. "You should really worry less about it. But if you really want to know how you look, there is a pond over there," he said and pointed his right thumb over his shoulder. "Just go see for yourself."

Mayer needed no further encouragement to do so. She immediately bolted past Vincent and in the direction he was referring to. She soon came to the silver pond that Vincent was talking about. It was a small circle in the ground filled with a mirror like water that was having no problems reflecting the world as it perceived its surroundings.

Re-L leaned forward and looked into the stagnant pool of water. The pond did not lie to her, it showed her the truth. She was absolutely hideous now. Re-L felt overwhelmed by despair at this point. Just when she was smiling, it was stolen away from her. Now she remembered why she was not a happy person to begin with.

She turned around to face Vincent who was now leaning against a tree a good distance away from her. "So, Vincent," she questioned and narrowed her eyes in an almost challenging manner. "Do you still feel the same way about me?"

Vincent's grin widened. He kept his eyes to his feet but he had no problem answering her without looking at her directly. "Nope," he said in a detached manner.

"Bastard," Re-L muttered but not quietly enough to actually prevent Vincent from hearing what she was calling him.

"Relax," Vincent replied uncharacteristically. "I didn't mean it like that. Keep in mind that I'm not as shallow as you are. I think less of you, definitely, but not for the reason you think."

Re-L sighed in an attempt to keep herself from showing any signs of despair or weakness to Vincent. He of course picked up on this and snickered to himself. "Don't worry, Re-L," he stated calmly. "You'll get use to it. Eventually."


	15. Phase IV

**Phase IV**

Vincent Law was sitting on the edge of a random sky island which he had decided to take a break on. He had spent the entire first half of the day roaming around aimlessly through this new world he and Re-L discovered. While Re-L was busy doing some exploring on her own Vincent sat there, he allowed his feet to dangle off the edge of a cliff which lead to nothing else but an endless sky.

He kept quiet for the longest time as he continued to watch the low flying clouds below him. He had a sorrowful smile on his face. He truly was growing more and more miserable by the second. His optimism and cheerful demeanor had all, but faded away into oblivion by now. Indeed, while Re-L had not yet given up on locating Radiation, and finally getting to the bottom of these insane scenarios they were trapped in, Vincent saw no point in pursuing meaningless answers. At first he attempted to put on a fake smile for Re-L just to be polite, but as time went on he realized there was no point in that either. Now, he sat here in the universe, wasting space.

The rather loud and obnoxious crickets chirped Vincent a tune to serenade his coming destruction. His inevitable demise was looming over him so clearly, of course he knew this. He could easily see Re-L's fate as well even if she was too blinded by her own ego to realize this. Vincent could only shrug and turn a cold shoulder as he watched Re-L trot off to her doom. He did not want to help her, nor warn her. In his opinion, if she lacked the intelligence to have figured it out by now, then she clearly was meant to have a horrible death.

Vincent sat their in his own self pity, not paying attention to his environment. If he was, he would have already noticed the shadow of a person looming over him. The comfortable yet sorrowful silence would meet its crushing demise as soon as Vincent heard the sound of a gentle voice sounding off from behind him. "Well now," a feminine voice began. The voice most certainly did not belong to Re-L. Vincent could tell right off the bat that this was the case when he heard how soothing and serene the voice was. "Vince, I wasn't expecting to see you here," the oddly familiar voice continued. "Why do you look so sad? You should know by now how much I hate seeing you depressed. When you're depressed, I am too."

Vincent slowly turned around with a dumbfounded expression. This expression would quickly shift to a more hopeful one when he finally laid eyes upon who was speaking to him. There standing over him was a woman who resembled Re-L quite well in the face, but she was nothing like Re-L, and other details about this woman would prove to differ from Re-L just as her personality would. This woman had solid white hair and eyes colored gold. She wore a white outfit which directly contradicted Re-L's all black outfit.

This young woman's name was Monad. That was a highly unusual and slightly egotistical name even if the woman could not help what she was designated at birth. Monad being one of the earliest forms of philosophical Gnosticism, or at least it was one of the first when one does not include religious philosophy in that time line. Monad by definition was the first thing to ever exist in the universe. Monad would be a point of origin for everything in reality, naturally, this name was definitely making a very prideful statement about the woman baring the name.

"Monad," Vincent asked in astonishment. The woman nodded kindly and shut her eyes in a cheerful manner, something of which Re-L Mayer could never do. "Is that really you," he inquired further. He simply could not believe his eyes. From what Vincent could remember so vividly, even if he could not picture it, Monad was a very close friend of his. There was even a point in which the two had a well developed relationship until Monad was executed for some reason that Vincent could not remember clearly now. He knew she was killed by the Soviets. The only reason this would happen is if she might have said something insulting about a communist leader or other government official. There was another possibility though. It was infamously known around the world that in the Soviet Union, if someone was caught disfiguring the picture of one of the leaders of the USSR, they would immediately be sent to Siberia. Vincent knew Monad had a very young little brother. For some reason, Vincent could not help but wonder if the reason she and her family was 'dealt with' would be if her young brother cut up one of those pictures without actually understanding what it meant to do so.

"Yes," Monad replied kindly. She then held her arms out in an inviting manner. "Please come give me a hug Vincent," she requested. "It's been so long since I've had the opportunity to lay my eyes upon you."

Vincent wasted no time sitting on the ground. He abruptly stood up and ran over to where Monad was waiting for him. He then tightly embraced her. This quick motion definitely surprised Monad by the unexpected action. Her smile grew none of the less and she lightly wrapped her hands around Vincent. "Oh my," she began quietly in an almost whispering tone. "Vincent, are you intentionally trying to knock the breath out of me?"

"Uh, I'm sorry," Vincent stuttered in embarrassment. He attempted to back away from her but Monad refused to release him so soon. After a few silent minutes, an interval long enough to cause Vincent to give an awkward look to Monad, she finally let him go.

"I'm so happy to see you again," Monad informed sweetly. Vincent was extremely happy to see her, but it would appear that Monad was far more joyful. This would be demonstrated when Vincent tried to say something, but he was interrupted as Monad abruptly embraced him once more which forced Vincent to keep quite for a little while longer

* * *

Re-L opened the door to an old home. This building was only one of many abandoned houses that remained scattered across this odd cluster of floating islands. For whatever strange reason, the doors were not locked. Re-L had entered seven different ones yet none of them were locked. They all appeared to have the same basic interior aesthetic to them, and they were all completely devoid of any form life.

There was a brick fireplace on the far side of the wall in the main living room which Re-L was now standing in. There was a black sofa in the middle of the room. The floor beneath her feet was actually composed of marble, but there was an expansive rug which covered most of the floor in the center of the living room. To Re-L's right was an open kitchen area, and just next to the kitchen was a closed wooden door.

Re-L walked further into the lonely house. The only light present in the otherwise very dark house was what little the sun could sneak in through the windows. This produced odd shadows throughout the room that made Re-L slightly disorientated. She walked up to the sofa and was about to take a seat and relax for a little while, but halted this action after she heard something break from the back room just behind that solitary wooden door.

It sounded like someone dropped a glass on the floor which ended up shattering. Re-L narrowed her eyes at the door and reached to her waist where she pulled out her pistol. Re-L then cautiously headed towards the door. Nothing made a sound after that loud shattering noise which appeared to have come straight out of the aether. Of course, it was debatable whether or not Re-L was actually in some sort of aether right now.

She came to a stop just in front of the door and cautiously placed her hand on the knob ever so carefully. Wasting no more time thinking about barging in, Re-L simply did what she had been planning to do. She practically kicked the door in and aimed her pistol directly down an obviously empty corridor. Re-L relaxed herself after she realized that this very tightly enclosed hallway was completely empty, there was also no sign of what caused the noise she heard earlier.

The hallway itself was similar in structure to the rest of the house. It had white walls and marble floors. There were three different doors on both sides of the walls. The end of the hallway was marked by an open window with two small pink curtains blowing very calmly under the command of the gentle breeze from outside. On either side of the window was an opening where the hallway turned off into a side hall. Re-L obviously could not see where these thinner corridors led to from her current vantage point, but they did catch her eye at least. It was totally quite in here. Other than the loud bang Re-L produced when she entered the hallway, nothing seemed to stir upon her obnoxious entrance.

Re-L let down her guard as soon as she realized that nobody was around. She did not put her pistol away but she did lower it to her side. She shoved her left hand into her coat pocket and casually walked up to the first door which came to her right side. She reached over for the knob and pulled the door open. There was nothing inside. It was simply an empty room that served no purpose other than to waste space in the house. She examined this room for a moment. One odd detail about it was that it had a floor made of wooden planks rather than of solid marble tiles.

The woman in black left the door wide open just to remind herself that she had already checked it. She knew there was something here. She knew something must be around her. There simply has to be something lurking in this house. "If an object at rest, tends to stay at rest," Re-L whispered as she turned around and walked up to the closed door on the opposite side of the hall. "Until an outside force acts upon that object," she continued. By this logic, if there was nothing here in the first place, then why would she hear something break. There was no reason for it unless there was someone or something rummaging about around here. However, Re-L was beginning to grow more concerned by this. While she could sense someone else was in the area, not including Vincent, then why was this place in such a preserved condition? If someone was still around, this place would probably be a lot less dusty, and far more lively than it currently was.

Re-L opened the second door which was no different than the first one. It was merely a small cube of space which had a wooden floor rather than a marble one. The one difference between this room and the first one, was that there was an old mop and bucket lying in the floor. The bucket was on the floor while the mop was positioned against the wall. Re-L lost interest in this room very quickly, knowing that it was probably just a closet for cleaning utensils. She left the door open just as she did with the first room and moved away.

She walked over to the next door in the lineup which lied to the right side of the corridor. She reached for the doorknob and turned it. Re-L then pushed the door open. This produced a rather loud and uncomfortable creak as it opened. Re-L was surprised to see that this room was not some old empty closet, but a bathroom. Indeed, there was a counter and sink just to her right. An old elliptical mirror with a black frame was positioned on the wall above the sink. There were five different cabinets along the bottom of the counter which presumably kept the usual supplies one would expect to find in a bathroom. At the far end of the room was a toilet, and on the left wall was an empty and dried up bathtub that looked as if it had not been used in a decade.

Re-L backed out of the room which was in actuality, just as useless as the two empty rooms she had already visited. With this third room out of the way, there were only three doors left for Re-L to check. She shifted her way directly to the left of the hall where the next door lied directly adjacent to the restroom. She grabbed the knob and pushed it open with ease. Surprisingly, this door let to yet another empty closet. It was not totally empty, there was a small stack of old shirts in a corner of the small enclosed room.

"How many damn closets does one person need," Re-L growled to herself in irritation. She then turned away from the useless closet. She then promptly walked off into the dimly lit corridor, but came to the next door which was positioned on the right hand side of the hall. She was just about to open it when it suddenly creaked open all by itself. It was only partially open and Re-L could not actually see what was inside from her current vantage point.

With a confused look on her face, Re-L slowly reached for the door. As soon as she touched it, the door abruptly threw itself open. This was followed by an unexpected scream from behind the door. Re-L jumped back and lifted her pistol. She fired two rounds directly at the door. Naturally, the bullets pierced through the thin wood, leaving two large holes in the door. Re-L then heard something hit the ground.

"Hmm," she thought to herself as she lowered her guard once more. Re-L walked around to the other side of the door and looked to the ground where she heard that noise. There at her feet was the corpse of what appeared to be a human in brown robes and a familiar mask which strongly resembled that of a crescent moon. "So, those lost souls are here too," she informed herself. "I'll cut this exploration quick and get back to Vincent. I need to at least warn him about the dangers of this place."

Re-L turned away and almost began walking the long way back to Vincent, but she stopped herself before she could even take the first step in that direction. She turned around and glared over her shoulder towards the back of the building. "I'll at least see what's around that corner before I leave," she told herself. Re-L then walked off towards the end of the hall. She came to a stop just in front of the window at the back of the corridor. She turned to her left and saw that the corner leading down that direction was nothing more than a useless bedroom. She turned to the right however, and immediately gasped to see an enormous room constructed mostly of glass. The floor was marble just like the majority of the house except there was one detail about the floor which gave it uniqueness when compared to the other rooms of the house. There in the middle of the room was a deep in ground pool. This pool was filled with some sort of liquid but it was most certainly not water of any description. Instead, the pool was filled to the top with an ominous deep blue gelatin. Re-L slowly approached the pool of gelatin, or at least, what appeared to be gelatin. For all Re-L knew it was probably some horrid blue slime that would act like quicksand if she were to set foot in it.

The next thing Re-L noticed was that there was an entire line of home grown plants surrounding the room. They lined the walls of the room, and gave the area an almost jungle-esque environment. Re-L quickly shrugged off the image of the plants from her brain. They simply were not an important detail to her. She was more focused on the pool containing that odd substance. She walked up just to the edge of the pool, and leaned over to look at the sludge inside. It was not disgusting or fowl in the least. It was merely a pile of goop. One weird detail that Re-L noticed right off the bat was that it did not reveal her reflection. The texture of the goop as well as the luster on the surface would indicate that it did have reflective properties but apparently not.

While Re-L was busy distracting herself with the in ground pool, a figure walked up behind her as quietly as a mouse would. This figure was non other than the now infamous Brandon. The same Brandon with bow saw which was now strapped to his waste. The same Brandon with the blank opera mask covering his face. He came up behind Re-L out of nowhere. While she had her back turned, Brandon came to a stop just a foot away from her. He watched her examine the goop below for some time. He did not move nor make so much as a peep. After a few moments, Brandon appeared to have become bored with merely watching Re-L as she in turn stared blankly at the pool of blue goop. Brandon then let out an audible sigh, the first noise he as made since Vincent met him.

Due to the sheer silence of the surrounding area, this sigh rang out in Re-L's ears at shocking volume. No matter how quiet Brandon was, the second he made a deliberate noise, Re-L heard him. She widened her blue eyes and attempted to turn around. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful in doing so. Just before she could face whoever was behind her, she felt a hand press against her upper back. This in turn sent her face first into the blue goop before her.

* * *

Monad was sitting on the cliff of the island, allowing her feet to dangle over the edge just as Vincent was doing earlier. Vincent on the other hand was lying on the ground with his head resting in her lap. He looked up to the sky above. Luckily the sun was out of his eyes, but it was still glaring down on him uncomfortably. None of the less, he lied there silently while Monad soothingly toyed with his hair. It would seem that Vincent was finally coming out of his depressingly pessimistic attitude. All it took was the mere presence of Monad to cheer him up. Having to deal with someone like Re-L made him realized just how much he missed her.

He only now figured out why he was so attracted to Re-L in the beginning. She looked almost identical to Monad were it not for her hair and eyes. The two had not said much of anything sense they first reunited not but around fifteen minutes or so ago. Vincent most certainly had a large amount of questions that he was waiting eagerly to ask her, but he decided to keep quiet for now. It was not everyday he had the opportunity to spend time with Monad. Especially not in such a tranquil place like the sky islands they were sitting on now. Indeed, while Re-L was fighting for her life, Vincent appeared to be in his own form of paradise.

"Vincent," Monad questioned calmly with that serene smile still present on her face. She looked down to him and almost seemed to be peering inside Vincent's very mind and thought processes. "I can tell you have something on your mind. Why don't you just say it. I haven't seen you in so long. It would be nice to hear about what you've been up to lately. I would also like to know what that look on your face is about."

Monad was specifically referring to the relieved expression on Vincent's face. To her it looked as if Vincent was going through some sort of nightmare up until this very moment, and in many cases he was. "What happened to you, Monad," Vincent asked after a short but noticeable pause. He asked this in such a miserable tone. The very sound of his pitiful voice caused Monad to adopted a more guilty expression.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be around, Vince," she began in a sincere voice. "When they killed me. I woke up here. I looked for you all over, but I could never find you. From there I decided to wait for you right here. I stayed in a house nearby and searched for you everyday when I woke up. I would often come out here to this very spot and look over the edge to see if I could spot you on the ground. I never was able to find you until now."

Vincent averted his eyes to meet hers as she continued to speak to him. "Now that you are here though," Monad stated slowly. "You don't ever have to leave. It's been incredibly lonely without another soul here with me, especially without you here. Won't you stay here with me for an eternity? Will you not remain in this beautiful place until time itself finally decays around us?"

It goes without saying that Vincent desired this more than anything but for some reason, he did not want to waste an eternity here just yet. There was something he still had to do. Something he originally had given up on but with the return of his beloved Monad, he could finally do this. "I would love to," Vincent informed. "But I still have one thing left that I need to do before I settle down. I hope you can come along with me to do it as well."

"To do what," Monad inquired with a tilt of her head.

"By any chance," Vincent asked. "Have you ever met a green skeleton going by the name of Radiation?" He asked this almost completely out of the blue. It seemed to surprise Monad. She looked at him with puzzled eyes for a few brief moments, but she suddenly readopted her signature smile of innocence.

"You've gotten yourself involved with the green skeleton too haven't you," she asked in an almost unfortunate tone of voice. Vincent was obviously surprised that she too was familiar of this man called Radiation. He only asked in the first place because he assumed it would be a good way to inform her about what has been happening to him lately. What worried Vincent the most and caused him to examine Monad's facial expressions for any hint of what she was getting at, it sounded as if she did not like Radiation. Vincent technically had no problems with Radiation. He was becoming slightly suspicious of Radiation's true involvement with the current situation at hand, but that was all. Monad on the other hand, appeared to become very nervous as soon as he brought up that name as if it was some sort of blasphemous phrase.

"What's wrong," Vincent asked but he was quickly interrupted as he noticed Monad's bottom lip began to quiver in sorrow. By the look in her eyes, Vincent would think she was about to cry. She then lowered her head and looked away from Vincent to prevent him from seeing the sorrowful tears that were now slowly streaming down her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Vincent," she pleaded as if she just did something horribly wrong, but Vincent could not figure out what the reason for this was. "I'm so sorry I got you involved with that man! All I wanted is for you to come back to me. He told me he could bring you here, but he said that something in exchange must be given! I told him that as long as he brings you here, I'll do anything. He just laughed at me and walked away. I'm sorry, Vincent. I didn't think he would actually bring you to me. I didn't think it would actually happen."

Vincent then sat up as a result of his own bewilderment. "What on earth are you talking about Monad," he questioned in obvious confusion.

"Alright," Monad breathed deeply to calm herself down. It was extremely rare when Monad had such an emotional break down. She was always so happy but every once and a blue moon she would allow her more troubling emotions to be revealed. She slowly turned to face Vincent who in turn remained quiet, allowing her to explain what madness she spoke of. "Let me start from the beginning," Monad elaborated.

* * *

Re-L found herself floating downwards in the almost metaphysical gelatin. Strangely enough, she had no trouble seeing and she was even breathing. It would appear that once she inhaled some of the blue substance, it would some how turn into oxygen or perhaps, some other gas that was able to satisfy her lungs. She was currently asleep. She floated down into the seemingly bottomless pit of blue. One odd thing about Re-L when she breathed under the surface of this strange substance, when she exhaled, no air bubbles were produced which is exactly what one would expected when swimming under any substance even slightly resembling water. It was almost as if Re-L was standing in the middle of a field rather than a pool of goo.

Re-L soon opened her eyes and looked around in a panic. She tried to hold her breath and shut her eyes. She frantically began swimming upwards but after awhile, she calmed down. Re-L opened her eyes and mouth to take a breath. She could breath just fine. She could see clearly in this goop as well. It was not completely dark in here. In fact, Re-L found herself floating almost in a type of void. She scanned her surroundings. In the distance she could see the blue sludge surrounding her yet she could feel it on her as well. For some reason though, she could not see the blue gelatin when it was too close to her. It acted almost like a form of tangible fog. She could not see anything far away but up close she could see everything. There was just a blue haze, but she could see her hands in front of her when she held them up to inspect them.

"What the...," Re-L questioned hesitantly. Her voice sounded very filtered underneath the blue substance. The environment Re-L was in did effect sound if nothing else. Regardless however, Re-L did not think too long on the odd things it was doing to her voice. Instead, she kept her eyes on the goop itself. For some unexplained reason, Re-L could see thousands of tiny black streaks moving quickly in the goop. They appeared to be some sort of small organisms. They would move like minnows in a pond. Some would float in one spot and abruptly bolt off a few feet in some random direction and Re-L would have trouble following them with there eyes. They were small black dots and would leave behind a thin black trail as they swam around her. She had no idea what these things wore but she could assume they were probably just some form of lifeforms that feed off of the goop, or perhaps there is some nutrients in the pool that kept them alive and well.

Re-L found it interesting that there was an entire ecosystem here in the pool. She would never have thought that creatures could live in such a substance. Re-L quickly shook this topic out of her mind when she realized that it was not important in the least. What she considered to be important now would be finding away out of the pool. She could already tell it was a much deeper pool than she was expecting. She was quite surprised when she looked up but could not see the ceiling above the pool or anything in the outside world. Re-L then turned and looked down. She quickly began swimming down as soon as she spotted something that was not blue.

She soon came to a stop and pressed her hands against a thick crystallized glass. This glass was completely transparent as well. She could see through the island she was currently on as if the bottom of this large in ground pool was nothing more than a window. She could see an ocean of blue sky and white clouds floating along side smaller islands and rocks at lower altitudes. Re-L sighed longingly. She wanted to visit those islands as well. She wanted to see every inch of this new world. It was so seductive in nature, and Re-L had not even realize it yet. She had only been her for a short time, but she was already enthralled with its majesty. She wanted nothing more than to sit here in this relaxing pool of an unknown substance for all eternity, but alas, she could not.

Re-L shook herself out of the hypnotic trance she had locked herself in. She suddenly remembered something. She remembered something that she could not believe she allowed herself to forget. Re-L narrowed her eyes in a vengeful manner. She knew who pushed her into this pit. She knew who was still lurking in the area.

That person was Brandon, or as she knew him, the man in the mask who rode a horse. The same stranger who rode in on his stallion and destroyed her beauty. The person who deleted her flawless complexion and replaced it with a mutilated and scared face that Re-L was now embarrassed of to the point where she had to cover her face to keep others from seeing it. She then pushed herself off of the glass and began swimming upwards to the surface. She was going to kill Brandon one way or another. She assumed he was still waiting on her to resurface and she would be correct in that assumption. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, only time would tell.


	16. Split Ends

_Note: Some of you may have noticed that I decided to remove the pairing from the tagline of this story. That is simply because it won't happen. I thought I could make room for something like a pairing in __Redshift__ but alas, I cannot._

* * *

**Split Ends**

Re-L finally climbed her way out of the pool she had been thrown into. She paused just before she pulled her legs out of the pool. She scanned the area and quickly spotted the man she was looking for. Brandon was currently walking away from her in a casual and almost teasing manner. He had assumed that Re-L would drowned in the pool, but he was horribly incorrect in that theory.

Re-L frantically looked down to examine her person but her pistol was gone, it had been lost in the pool, and she was not about to go looking for it. She simply did not have the time. Brandon was right in front of her and was about to leave. She averted her eyes back upwards and searched for anything at all that she could use for a weapon. To her much needed convenience, Re-L spotted a two foot long rebar lying on the ground. She immediately pulled herself out of the pool and picked up the steel bar all in one smooth motion.

"You," she called out from behind. That was all Brandon needed to hear to keep himself from leaving. He instantly turned around and charged at Re-L who was at the moment, not expecting such a fast response time. She figured that she would at least have the time to speak with him even if it was to find out a small tidbit of information that would help her realize what Brandon was doing and why exactly he left a scar on her face. Unfortunately, she would not receive the closer she was hoping to achieve.

Brandon sliced his bow saw in Re-L's general direction. The only reason she was not touched by the blade was due to her instinctive reflex to block the oncoming saw with the rebar she found on the ground. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to catch the blade. Brandon struggled to remove his bow saw from the coiled indention on the rebar. Re-L finally began realizing that she now had the upper hand, unfortunately for her, she did not realize this soon enough. Brandon merely clenched his left hand into a fist and promptly punched Re-L in the jaw as if she were a man.

Re-L naturally fell to the ground and did not get back up. Her rebar fell to the ground alongside her as well. Surprisingly, Brandon did not make another advance on her. She appeared to be beaten once again. Brandon was not the type to kill someone unless he actually had a reason to do it. In Re-L's case, he had no reason. He only cut her face because she scared his horse right when he was about to kill Vincent at long last. Now, while he was debating rather vigorously with himself to determine whether she should live or die, he probably should have cut her throat without hesitation. After awhile, Brandon simply hooked his bow saw back to his waist and shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. He then promptly walked off, leaving Re-L to lie on the floor in her own defeatism and utter humiliation.

* * *

Radiation walked out of the restaurant where he met his friends after about an hour of visiting with them. He was ready to return to his work writing that little story of his. Everyone else had bid their adieus to him, but as he walked towards the same car that dropped him off, Charisma ran up from behind him while waving his hand in the air. Charisma called out to Radiation just to grab his attention.

"Hold on a second," Charisma exclaimed which naturally caused Radiation to stop in his tracks and turn to the man who was now pursuing him. "Radiation! I need to have a few words with you for just a moment!" Charisma finally caught up to the man, or skeleton, he had been chasing.

Radiation gave him a more cynical look. He was well aware that Charisma was not much of a fan of his. Charisma was often scolding him from a distance and while Charisma himself always thought he was being sneaky in such acts, Radiation had no trouble spotting Charisma's resentment towards him. Usually, when Charisma wished to speak with Radiation alone in such a manner, it was over something that Radiation would normally never tell anyone such as the topic of his book. Charisma had been trying to squeeze as much information out of the old skeleton as possible but he was ultimately unsuccessful. Radiation's quick intellect and flawless observational skills gave him the ability to see right through Charisma's little antics.

"What is it that you need," Radiation questioned. He spoke in a stern voice just to demonstrate that he was already growing suspicious of Charisma. This was ironic to say the least seeing as how the most shady person in this whole situation would be Radiation. The same green skeleton that twisted the words of others and manipulated them in whatever ways possible.

"Believe it or not," Charisma began. "I'm not here to try and trick you into telling me what you're up too. I'm actually not trying to find out what your twisted novel is about either."

"Oh," Radiation asked but silenced himself immediately afterward, and waited for Charisma to continue with whatever it is that he was rambling on about.

"No," Charisma confirmed. "Actually, I'm here to offer you one little warning." Radiation crossed his skeletal arms as Charisma continued. "I know what you're doing. I don't know exactly what you're up too but I have a pretty good idea. This is another one of your demented art forms where you'll photograph the aftermath of whatever new atrocity you're committing and send the pictures off to whatever sick media outlet will accept them. So, I would just like to warn you. What you're doing has consequences. Don't take that as a threat, please. But, understand that these crimes will not go unpunished."

Radiation shrugged his shoulders at the very words he was hearing. For some reason, Charisma actuality assumed that he was doing something wrong. How far from the truth these accusations were. "You act as if I'm some sort of antagonist," Radiation snickered. "However, I am not. You claim I am a scoundrel but again I couldn't be further from such. I am merely an artist who does not value you whatever petty boundaries previous generations have forced upon society. My work is beautiful given how inhumane and nihilistic it is. Every artist has their own style. I have mine as well. If you cannot see that, then you should reeducate yourself on the subject of fine art."

* * *

Vincent payed close attention as Monad who was still sitting there next to him. She had not said anything yet, but she was about to. Vincent had a feeling that Monad knew a lot about the current situation which had cleverly ensnared him. While he did not care an hour or so ago, he was now giving Monad his undivided attention. Even though he still technically did not care, he would not be rude to Monad. Instead, he would allow her to say whatever she wished to tell him. She was obviously distressed as well, and claims to have done something horrible. Vincent was most certainly curious about that particular topic when all others failed to capture his interest.

"Please don't hate me," Monad began apologetically. "But I think I've destroyed your life."

"What are you talking about," Vincent questioned. "You've already apologized. Now would you mind telling me what you're apologizing for?"

Monad sighed once more and looked out towards the clouds on the horizon which was constructed of nothing more than thin air. "Vince, I know you won't believe what I have to tell you, but please pay attention. It's important. If Radiation were to find out what I tell you now, he'd kill me but..."

Monad would have loved to continue educating Vincent on what was happening but unfortunately, she would not have that opportunity. She turned ever so slightly to the left as she saw a figure running towards her out of the corner of her eye. She was not even given time to warn Vincent. By the time she noticed that a young man in a red hooded jacket was running up to her, it was far too late for her to react.

Brandon did not hesitate, no matter how close to the edge of the island he was. He simply could not allow Monad to tell Vincent a single thing. He did not have his bow saw drawn, he would not need it for this one task. As Vincent finally spotted Brandon, he was far too close to Monad for him to successfully pull her out of the way. Instead, he merely sat there and watched as Brandon leaped off the ground and towards the woman in white. He grabbed her by the neck and ran clear over the edge of the floating island with her in his arms. The two fell down to the clouds below. Vincent could hear Monad screaming, but he was too dumbfounded to even move from his little spot there on the edge of the island where he was safely out of harm's way.

* * *

Re-L finally stood herself upright after a good ten minutes of lying there on the floor. Oddly enough, she did not want to stand up. She did not want to so much as move a muscle. She would much rather lay here for an eternity rather than have to face the world after she had just been beaten by Brandon yet again. Brandon had clearly become her archenemy. Whether this was intentional on his part was not very clear to her. In reality, Brandon was not targeting Re-L. She had only gotten in the way both times that he was attempting to kill Vincent. The first time, she scared his horse and he sliced her face just to teach her a lesson. Now, he was probably just searching for Vincent here because Brandon knew he was in the area somewhere. Then, he saw Re-L here and assumed it would be a good idea to deal with her which would in turn, make things much easier on him.

Brandon definitely had his reasons for targeting Vincent, but Re-L could care less about him at this point. There were two things presently on her 'to-do list.' One would be to figure out what in the world is happening to her. The second would be the kill that psychopath with the mask on his head. However, each encounter with him was making her more and more nervous. He did literally attack Vincent on horseback last time. This time he was able to nearly knock Re-L unconscious even when she already appeared to be winning their little fight. It was clear that Brandon was very resourceful. She could only imagine what he could concoct the next time they meet. Of course, Re-L knew all too well that Brandon was probably just being merciful because he either grew bored with her, or had better things to do than sit around and dismember her. Both of these accusations would be true. Although, the problem Re-L was worried about now was that if Brandon did win the next fight between them, which there was a high probability that such a thing would happen, then Brandon would probably grow fed up with Re-L and kill her on the spot.

Re-L shook the thought of her being so close to death out of her brain. It would appear that a quick glimpse into the eyes of the angel of death has easily broken a large majority of her moral, but Re-L still luckily had a small ounce of life within her. She promptly felt her right cheek where Brandon hit her. It was obviously sore but thankfully it did not bruise. The last thing Re-L needed, was yet another mark on her already horribly scarred face. That kind of thing would only be adding insult to injury at this point.

* * *

It would take about 20 more minutes but Re-L would finally make her way back to where she last saw Vincent. This would of course be the same place he was still sitting at. Re-L was to surprised to see him lying there on the ground in an awkward way. He looked like he was about to fall off the edge, but if he was then Vincent clearly did not care. He laid there with one leg and one arm hanging off the edge and his head was also hanging off of the edge. He looked down to oblivion, but Re-L could not see his facial expressions.

"_Vincent_," she stated firmly but he did not answer. Re-L narrowed her eyes at him cynically. She had no idea what his problem was but she could easily tell something must have happened. Even with that in mind, it did not stop the woman without a conscience from nagging him constantly. "Vincent, get up," she demanded. "Look there," she continued and pointed towards a bridge on the other side of the island which was positioned far to the left. It led off to one single rock with a lonely tree planted on it and from there one could see that the bridge continued past that point and probably went onwards into infinity. "That's the bridge we're going to take to get out of here," Re-L informed. "We need to find Radiation and I have a gut feeling that bridge will lead him to us."

"Then go by yourself," Vincent muttered. He spoke softly but loudly enough to the point where Re-L could hear him without having to reflect on what he said just to ensure that she heard him correctly. Unfortunately, she was not pleased with this statement.

"What the hell are you talking about," Re-L snapped. "We can find that skeleton and figure out what's going on here once and for all. We can figure out a way to go back to our homes!"

"I don't care," Vincent argued without so much as moving a muscle. "If you want to go then go, but don't subject me to whatever madness you plan to undertake. I couldn't care less about you or Radiation. Do whatever you want. Just leave me alone. Forever."

"Are you insane," Re-L yelled. "If we don't track this man down we'll be trapped here for ever. We'll meet fates like Pino and Vlad if we don't get out of here as soon as possible. I know you're undergoing some sort of mental crisis but knock it off already! I don't know what the hell happened to you. One minute you're fine, the next you're crazy. Then you did that same thing all over again! Just come with me. If you really hate me as much as you claim then help me find Radiation. We can get him to show us the way out of here and you'll never see me again!"

Vincent did not seem convinced by anything Re-L was saying. He would absolutely love to never hear from Re-L again, but he did not care enough to actively travel with her to see Radiation. That, and now he had no reason to even move, let alone put up with Re-L any longer. Re-L herself could tell something was wrong yet she still would not let up. If she was not too blinded by her own ego, she might even notice that Vincent was on the verge of throwing her over the edge of this island. By the look in his eyes which she could not see at her current vantage point, he looked to be ready to end her life.

She grew more and more irritated by Vincent's constant ignoring of her. No matter what she said or what promises she made, Vincent still did not seem to take to them. Re-L suddenly clenched her hands into fists. She could not understand why he was acting as if he was the one to have the most miserable time. While she had been scared and practically thrown around like a rag doll, Vincent had nothing tragic happen to him yet, or at least not that she was aware of. She viewed this as an odd form of twisted irony. She hated the fact that she was doing all of the suffering while he simply gave up all hope without actually trying. Re-L could finally not stand Vincent's moping around anymore.

Re-L abruptly ran up towards Vincent while he laid there on the ground like a lifeless corpse that had just attempted to cross a busy highway, but had been ran over by an on coming car. Vincent could hear her coming but he did nothing about it. He was truly not expecting her to do much other than infiltrate his personal space and yell at him like some sort of military drill sergeant. Re-L however, had something else in mind.

Instead of yelling at Vincent, she decided it would be meaningless to do so. He would only sigh and ignore her as if she was not even there. Instead, Re-L would force him to cooperate one way or another. She abruptly grabbed him by the shirt collar and tried to hoist him up. This did not do much of anything other than make Vincent extremely angry to a point that Re-L would never actually expect from someone who was once so laid back and mellow by nature. Regardless of this though, as soon as Re-L tried to pull him off the ground, it did work to a certain degree, but not in the way Re-L was hoping for.

Vincent abruptly twirled around, rolling away from the edge to a safer distance at Re-L's feet in the process. He grabbed her by the wrist and jumped to his feet before grabbing her shirt by the collar and forced her to the ground. Re-L widened her eyes covered her face instinctively as she saw Vincent's fist raise in the air.

He almost hit her in the same way Brandon did, almost. In hindsight, he should have done so just to shut her up for good, but Vincent could not bring himself to do such a thing, even to such a horrid person like Re-L. He froze in place as soon as he caught a glimpse of her face just before she defensively covered it with her right arm. She did not do a very good job since Vincent could still see her left eye staring at him in a fearful way. She simply looked too much like Monad. If Re-L had an even slightly different face, he would probably not have thought twice but because she did indeed look almost like an identical twin to Monad, he lost the heart to hit her.

Vincent promptly released Re-L's collar and stood up. He then silently walked away. Re-L remained on the ground for what felt to her to be an eternity. She did not dare move for fear of aggravating the already very irritable Vincent.

At a random point, Re-L suddenly felt the chocking pain of Vincent grabbing her collar once again. "And by the way," Vincent stated in an angered tone. She could hear the small hint of anger in his voice even though it was emotionless for the most part. Vincent truly had a hard time expressing his emotions or at least through his voice, however, when he did have them, they were extreme emotions which is natural for someone who is so quiet and calm like Vincent. "To say that I haven't had any sort of backlash over the course of all these events is willful ignorance _you insufferable bitch_. While you're busy complaining about a little scratch on your face, I just lost my precious Monad. That's right. She visited me while you were gone, then that psychopath with the mask on his face came by and threw her off the cliff! All you've had to experience was a little change in appearance. And may I just say that the scar really doesn't look good on you."

With that last insult out of the way, Vincent finally released Re-L for good. Once again, Re-L waited there on the ground to see if Vincent would come back, but he did not. Of course, Re-L did not remain on the ground for long, and her survival instincts would kick off after a few moments and she would regain her temporarily lost courage. She sat up and turned to the right where she saw Vincent walk off to. He was headed for a sky bridge which would lead to who knows where. In fact, it looked a lot like the one Re-L wanted to travel on, but it was in the opposite direction.

She watched as Vincent shoved his hands in his pockets, and headed towards that bridge without so much glancing over his shoulder to see if Re-L was alright. He really did not care if she was or was not alright. Re-L glared at him with a hateful look in her eyes. "This is goodbye," she stated aloud and stood up to her feet. "So goodbye Vincent Law. I don't know what you plan to find in that direction but I hope it works for you."

It was hard to believe that Re-L was being the diplomatic one considering what just happened to her. In actuality, she was having a horrid day. From being scared, to punched, to almost being punched by a _former_ friend. Vincent on the other hand, did not respond to this. He kept walking and did not even stop to acknowledge that she said anything. Once again, he was treating her as if she were a ghost begging for the attention of someone who did not believe she existed. He soon left earshot and eventually became nothing more than a figure disappearing into a large cloud which surrounded half of the sky bridge he chose to walk on.

Re-L could not believe it. The once clingy and timid Vincent Law nearly killed her and was now leaving her for good. She had no idea where he was planning to go nor did she care for that matter. As long as she never had to lay her eyes upon him again, she would be a very happy camper. Of course, from the way things were looking at this point. That would be the case. The path in the sky he took leads probably to an all new phase or even an entirely different world. Re-L safely assumed the same thing would happen to hear as she took her own separate route.

She turned around to face the bridge on the left side of the island she was still standing on. Re-L almost immediately widened her eyes to see a cloud was also moving in on her selected bridge. It was an even larger cloud than the one Vincent just walked through and it was now in the process of passing over her bridge. The only other difference from Vincent's cloud other than the size, would be the cloud itself. The one Vincent has to walk through was a normal white cloud while the one Re-L was facing was actually a storm cloud. She even witnessed several small bolts of lightning discharge from within it.

Anyone would have taken this as a bad omen. Re-L on the other hand, was not that superstitious. Anyone else would have gone the other way but Re-L's ego would not allow her to travel with Vincent any longer. She obviously knew that seeing a random storm cloud had to be some sort of bad sign. With all of the insanity that has plagued her so far, it would be hard not for her to see something such as this and take it as an omen. It was clear that this world was intelligent and could sense what she was about to do. It was most likely telling her not to go down this bridge for whatever reason, but stubborn Re-L would not back away from it at the mere sight of a simple storm cloud no matter how suspicious it is to see a single storm cloud among an otherwise clear and beautiful sky.

Re-L tilted her head to the right and crossed her arms. "No problem," she thought aloud to herself. "I just have to be careful when I walk through it. I don't want any of that lighting to touch me. I'm pretty sure the voltage would kill me instantly." With that in mind, Re-L finally walked forward.

* * *

Re-L would ironically make her way through the storm cloud without too much of a hassle. She soon made her way to that single floating rock where the first section of the bridge led to, and it continued onward into oblivion. Re-L came to as stop on this rock just before she made her way to the second section of the bridge. She would have continued walking if she had not of noticed the average sized pine tree sitting at the edge of the rock she was currently on. The only reason it caught her eye, was due to a deformity within the tree itself.

There in the trunk of the tree, was what appeared to be two arms pointed out on either side of the tree. They were both colored the same texture as the bark and the face of a man in the center of the trunk. The face had the same color as the tree as well. She glared at this horrific figure with an unfazed expression. Surprisingly, this face and the arms were not mere carvings in the tree. If fact, the fingers began to move. They moved as if they had not done such an act in thousands of years, and as a matter of fact, that would be a very accurate analogy. The face also began to shift expressions. It went from one of deep contemplation to one of surprise as it took notice in Re-L.

"My word," a male voice said in a very frail tone. "Are you... another soul. Forgive me, but I haven't seen a new face around here in a long time. In fact, it's been well over a few eons since I've laid my old eyes upon another face, and such a pretty one too. Forgive my intrusiveness again, but please, you must tell me your name. Say something, anything at all, I beg of you."

Re-L lifted an eyebrow at the man. She was not confused by his odd requests at all. She already had a good idea about what this man's life entails. If what he says is true, then he must sit in this one spot thinking since time in this world began. She had no idea how long he must have actually been here but there was no telling. Regardless, she felt sorry for him and thought the least she could do was tell him her name. "My name is Re-L," she informed flatly. "Re-L Mayer. And yours?"

"Oh," the man said in that usual raspy tone one would often hear from someone who was on the verge of dying. "Actually, I forgot my name a long time ago. I think it began with a B, but I'm not sure anymore. It's not like it matters anyway. But enough about me, could you tell me why you're here? Surely a sweet little thing like you doesn't belong in a place like this."

"Could you tell me where I am," Re-L asked with a more hopeful glimmer in her eyes. "I've been lost for a little while now and I don't actually know where I am anymore."

The man in the tree chuckled at this. He found her words almost amusing. This was the first time the man had laughed at something in probably a few thousand years. It felt good for him to laugh at least once in all that time. "You don't know where you are," the man asked. "Well, I'm surprised by that. Usually people figure it out real quickly. You see, that place you left behind. The place you came from, that was the Re-L world. The place that you woke up in. The place that remains right behind your back is what the folks around here call Purgatory. It's the place all souls go to await their judgment from the one they call God. Sometimes they come and go, other times they stay for a hundred years. It all depends on how they are judged. Oddly enough, you've been the first person I've seen in a long time. People use to come this way everyday but after awhile, they just stopped coming. I often found myself wondering. Did humanity finally discover the secret to immortality? Did they finally begin doing no wrong? Or did they all die out? And now I find you here, so tell me, which one of those was I correct on."

"You mean you've been sitting here all this time," Re-L asked in horror. "What's it like to just sit here for all eternity?"

"Oh, you get use to it after awhile," the man replied. "Sometimes I wish they would just put me out of my misery but I do have a job to do after all. Although, I will say that my favorite time, is sleepy time. When I'm asleep, it feels like I'm truly at peace. You know, when you're truly dead, it will feel like you're in a deep, dreamless sleep but you'll never wake up. Imagine your life before birth. It felt like you were asleep until you formed your first sentient thoughts didn't it?"

"Yeah," Re-L nodded.

"That's just what the real afterlife is like. It's so quiet, dark, and I yearn for it so deeply."

"A minute ago you said you had a job," Re-L reminded and the man did his best to nod his face even though he was still infused in the tree trunk. "What is that job?"

"I'm the gatekeeper," the man informed. "You are now leaving Purgatory. You do know that don't you?"

"Then am I headed towards paradise," Re-L questioned with a frantic look in her eyes.

"No child," the man chuckled lightheartedly. "Actually, I am the gatekeeper to what many men have called Hell. Again, I'm surprised you weren't aware of all of this. If you came down this way, you were already judged were you not?"

"No," Re-L argued. "I just came down this route because I had a feeling that I needed to! I wasn't judged, I came here out of my own free will but I didn't know what I was walking into."

The man did not believe her. She could even see a hint of cynicism in his wooden eyes. "Nobody comes down this road without being guided by God," the man retorted calmly. "Like it or not Miss Mayer. You were judged but you just don't realize it. You said something inside you told you to come this way. Re-L, that was God. He told you to come here because he does not desire you to be with him in his kingdom of riotousness. You didn't consent to coming down this road even if you may think you did. I'm sorry for your predicament, but this is where you belong now. You might as well keep going straight. God will guide you to which ever annex fits the sins you have committed in your life. Good luck."

Re-L was shocked by this. Her stomach sank in fear but she could not turn back now. She could not let this stop her. She simply had to keep going, even if it was to her infinite doom. "Thanks for illuminating me," she whispered. "But I should be going now." With that, Re-L walked forward into the very mouth of hell, leaving the gatekeeper alone to continue reminiscing about better days.

"Goodbye Re-L Mayer. I hope your punishment does not last as long as mine. I still wait patiently for the day when they cast me into the Lake of Fire, where I may rest in peace. But you know something Miss Mayer," he continued even though Re-L had already left earshot. "A young boy came through the gates some two thousand years ago. He was so happy when I told him what this place was. I said to him after I saw the smile on his face, 'hey boy, did you hear what I said? You're in Hell now.' Do you want to know what that little boy said right back to me? He said that he was so thrilled to see that there actually was an afterlife. He told me that he feared death because he believed there would be nothing but an endless sleep. He said that Hell would be a better fate then an eternity in an unconscious state. I told him he was insane but he just skipped away to his doom without a care in the world. Oh, but boys will be boys though, I suppose you can't blame him for that. But the craziest thing was what he said he did to be here. I naturally asked him why a boy his age was going to the bowls of hell. He told me that it was for killing his parents one night when they were making love. He said he did it to prevent them from having another baby. _Ha! Ha! _Boys will be boys."


	17. Ice Tomb

**Ice Tomb**

Re-L quietly walked to a cold grave, all alone. She does not remember when it happened, yet she was no longer on the floating paradise, but a freezing plain of snow and ice which was only accompanied by hurricane winds. The sky was almost completely black with dark storm clouds where snowflake after freezing snowflake was produced. There was a single road which was now paved in two feet of snow. Underneath the layers of snow was a thick wall of ice over the entire surface of the area which made Re-L's walk through these horrid conditions all the more challenging. She had no jacket other than the thin black one she always wore. Unfortunately, that jacket of hers did nothing to protect her body from the insane arctic whether.

Each time she took so much as a step, Re-L had to make an all new effort. She had been moving through this unbearable whether for two hours now. She remembered leaving the gatekeeper and heading into this unknown place. She walked along that sky bridge until she came to this specific floating island which was probably the size of a small continent. She entered this area knowing there was a horrendous blizzard already underway, yet this was the only path she could take at this point. As much as she wanted to stop and allow herself time to rest, she forced her weakened body along. Re-L knew all too well that if she were to stop now, she would end up freezing to death. She absolutely must keep moving if she does not want to die in the middle of this wretched storm.

One thing that helped her keep her mind off of the temperature was all of the questions she had running through her brain which proved to distract her from the fact that she would probably die out here without ever finding the answers. She kept moving and scanned the horizon constantly for any signs of shelter or anything at all. Eventually, she felt her foot hit something hard which caused her to trip and fall forward. Oddly enough, instead of falling into the snow, Re-L felt herself fall into a hole and land on yet another hard surface. She laid there and considered simply giving up. It was not like she was going to find anything, but Re-L soon realized where she was. She looked around to see she had fallen into an open structure made entirely of ice. She sat up and noticed that she was currently sitting on a staircase leading downwards, deeper into the earth which was once again, constructed out of clear, blue ice.

She looked ahead of herself to see the staircase led down into a very dark corridor. Thankfully, Re-L had a flashlight on her person. She reached into her coat pocket in a more calm manner. She was only calm at this point because the walls of this weird structure were protecting her from the blizzard winds. Re-L then pulled out a black tactical flashlight, and flipped it one before aiming it down into the stairwell below. The tunnel below was completely made out of ice bricks. The only question Re-L had in her mind now though, would be who cut the ice into bricks and built this place. Before she could spend too much time wondering about these details, she spotted a door which was also made of ice located at the foot of the staircase.

Re-L quickly stood up and lifted an eyebrow at the entrance to this mysterious structure. She quietly moved forward, walking down the large door. She came to a stop and placed her hand on the cold door. After a few moments of examining it, Re-L pushed it forward with as much strength as she could possible muster and surprisingly, the frozen door seemed to cooperate with her. The door was finally pushed out of her way and Re-L looked into the solid ice structure. It was not very well lit inside this old structure but that was to be expected. While it was still very cold in this structure, it was far better in her opinion than being exposed to ungodly winds.

She shined her light around in the room. Several pillars of ice lined the area, keeping the ceiling an appropriate distance from the floor. Re-L could hear running water and naturally aimed her flashlight towards the floor where she spotted a small aquifer carved in the ice. The carvings circled around the very center of the room where a rectangular object laid. Re-L moved the flashlight away from the streams of water and shined it towards the mystery object. At first it looked to be a six foot long, and four foot tall block of ice. However, as Re-L moved her flashlight up the object even more, she noticed a coffin made completely of ice was positioned just on top of the frozen table.

She walked over to the coffin, careful not to step in the freezing water as she did this. Re-L placed her hand on the thick lid of the coffin. She tilted her head with curiosity. "I'll feel like some sort of ghoul," Re-L told herself. "But I need to know what's inside." With that, she placed the flashlight back into her coat pocket and positioned both hands on the lid of the coffin. She then pushed the lid until it finally gave way. She heard the lid fall to the ground on the other side of the coffin and break into several pieces as if it were an old eroded stone.

Re-L then reached back into her coat and pulled her flashlight out once more. She held it over the newly opened coffin and peered into the darkness to see what had been put to rest inside it. She was shocked to see there was no frozen mummy inside the coffin but rather, a small stack of papers which looked to have been freshly filled with words on a typewriter.

"Hey," she asked herself aloud as she reached into the cold coffin. "Are these some of the pages of Radiation's book? I wonder how he's portrayed me as a character. If anything, I can at least find out more about he himself. Maybe he's even left a hint I can use to track that bony bastard down once and for all." With that in mind, Re-L casually picked up the papers and turned around before leaning her back against the coffin to relax herself. Their were several pages in the stack which meant she would probably be here for a little while.

* * *

Vincent Law was still a more useless entity at this point in time. Any spectator could take a glimpse into this young man's life and realize just how pointless his existence truly is. His better half, Ergo was far more charismatic and more able to force his will upon the surrounding environment yet the weaker personality was unfortunately the more dominant aspect of mind. However, Vincent was not the most useless member of the little crew wasting their lives away on some worn down wind powered ship. Re-L Mayer, was by far the most useless, and unreasonable person. In actuality, Vincent could choke the life out of her and throw her to the side of the road, and he would probably have a far more peaceful and enjoyable journey. For some strange reason, he has not yet done this but in good time he just might. The most entertaining person riding on this ship called the Centzon was named Pino. A little mechanical android who was directly the opposite of Re-L which was a necessity for anyone who would be trapped in such a confined space with the gothic woman for more than a few days.

In fact, if Vincent could simply kill Re-L, he would be doing the world itself a favor. However, due to his stubborn nature, he did not believe this was so. He was even responsible for saving her life a few times, even though the only thing she truly deserved was a lonely, painful, and slow death. Unfortunately, Re-L had not been horribly killed yet.

The woman with no clear emotions other than cynicism was lying on the only bed in the Centzon. Vincent gave her the bed to sleep on in a gentlemanly fashion, yet it would be more deserving to make her sleep outside on the deck of the ship like the dog she truly was. In a disgusting manner, Re-L laid on the bed and threw a tennis ball up into the air where it proceeded to hit the ceiling in a most annoying manner before she allowed it to fall to the ground again. She then caught the ball in mid air and threw it up to the ceiling again, repeating the process. It would be wonderful if the ball would accidentally hit her in the eye, but alas, it did not.

While Re-L was literally wasting the oxygen of the world, Vincent was doing something far more productive. He was sitting at the soul table in the ship with a house of cards standing tall above his head. He was currently in the process of placing one card at the very top of the structure. He almost came out of his seat just to reach it. His little building had grown to considerable size to the point where it began moving back and forth under its own imbalanced weight.

Re-L caught her tennis ball once more but did not throw it to the ceiling this time. Instead she turned to face Vincent who was still struggling to build on to his house of cards. She then abruptly threw her tennis ball straight at Vincent's card structure which naturally caused the thing to explode. The cards went flying all around the interior of the Centzon. The only card that was not bothered by the rather rude and unnecessary action, would be the card in Vincent's hand.

Vincent did not look at Re-L nor did he say anything, but he was visibly irritated with her. Instead, he quietly began picking up the cards which she scattered even though she had no right to destroy his little house. This was just another thing the disturbed Re-L found to be amusing. Unfortunately for the wretch on the bed, Vincent had finally had his fill of her pathetic attitude and ridiculous behavior such as what she previously did to his little house of cards.

He calmly picked up all fifty two cards in the deck and sat back down to the table. He then began stacking each card in an odd order. He began with the stack by first placing down the diamond two and piling the other diamond cards on top. He then moved to stack the diamond jack, queen, king, and finally the diamond ace card was placed on top of the other similar cards. Vincent then placed all of the shamrock cards on top of the diamonds. It was in the same order as the diamonds; two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, jack, queen, king, and the ace.

Vincent stacked the spades on top of the diamonds and shamrocks in the exact same order as the others. He then moved to the hearts which were the final cards to be placed in the stack, however, he did not do so. Instead, he arranged them into a confused order. Two, four, five, ace, jack, three, nine, eight, queen, seven, king, and six was the order they were now in. Oddly enough, instead of throwing the newly formed stack of hearts on top of the main deck, he set them off to the side of the table and stood up.

He then slowly turned to face Re-L who was now doing nothing more than lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling as if it were about to do a trick. She did not notice Vincent staring at her in an ominous manner. Without any warning, Vincent flickered out of sight and reappeared right next to Re-L, leaning down over her. Re-L abruptly choked, and looked down to notice Vincent's hand was quite literally stabbed into her stomach. Vincent suddenly pulled Re-L's intestines out of her body for her to see...

* * *

Re-L abruptly threw the papers back in the ice coffin with an offended look on her face. Keeping in mind that her face was now scarred to the point where she was absolutely hideous, then again it is what she deserves for being such a pitiful human being. "That isn't how I act," Re-L lied to herself. In reality, this Re-L was just as disgusting and vile as the one in Radiation's novel. Radiation was simply a genesis who was perfectly honest with his readers. His intentions were to grasp the characters of Re-L, Vincent, and Pino which he was clearly very accurate in doing so. Re-L being the egotistical imbecile she usually was, simply could not accept this reality.

"Radiation, I know you're in here," she called out as she looked around the tomb she was now taking shelter in. "Just come on out and tell me what the hell is going on!"

"He isn't here," an unfamiliar male voice spoke out from behind. Re-L instinctively twisted herself around and took a defensive step backwards. There behind her was an odd looking man in a dark green jacket and a peculiar smile on his face.

"Re-L Mayer," the man greeted. "My name is Karl Vagaer. It's quite nice to finally meet you in person. Or well, it will be nice to meet you as long as I don't really have to be bothered by you for longer than I see necessary."

"What are you talking about," Re-L asked in a stern tone. "Who are you?"

"I just told you who I am," Karl insisted with a condescending smile. "I would ask you to introduce yourself but I unfortunately already am well aware of who you are. Now, I heard you were calling for somebody. So, is there anything I can do to help?"

"I was looking for Radiation," Re-L informed and placed a hand on her hip. "Just tell me where to find him and get out of my way."

Karl shifted his grin to a more unreadable one. He then abruptly grabbed Re-L by the collar in the same way Vincent did to her previously, and glared into her shocked eyes. "Listen," he whispered. "I know you can probably act like a spoiled rotten bitch around Vincent, but I won't tolerate it. You'd better treat me respect if you want answers instead of my back hand across your face. _Understand_?"

"Fuck you," Re-L muttered in a shaken tone of voice.

Karl simply snickered silently and released Re-L. "Hmm, and to think that I was about to tell you everything. Oh well, I suppose it's too hard for you to act like a decent human being for once in your pathetic lifespan. Or perhaps you're just to slow to understand that a smile and the word please can go a long way." With that, Karl shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked back into the darkness.

Re-L would have stopped him for the sake of finding at least a few answers regarding Radiation's whereabouts, but she could not bring herself to ask. However, it would appear that she would not need to. Karl abruptly stopped himself and looked over his shoulder. "Well, since you've shut up," Karl said quietly. "And since this is the last time you'll see me, I'll just go ahead and tell you everything I believe you deserve to know. First off, I should probably advise you to go ahead and give up. Vincent is the only one who's going to figure out anything. You wont even live long enough to see Radiation for a second time. You took the wrong path. Not only did Vincent go the right way, but he also has the only key to the most valuable room in this entire world. I gave him the red key because I figured you wouldn't be smart enough to find the red room, and it's clear that I was right in making that assumption."

Karl turned around slightly but did not look Re-L in the eye seeing as how she technically did not deserve such a gesture. "Vincent is on his way to the red room right now, even if he doesn't realize it. You on the other hand, decided to go this route and now you'll die a most horrible death. You will never find Radiation, thus you will never learn the true meaning of your own life. _Congratulations_."

"So that's it," Re-L asked with a lifted eyebrow. "There's no point in even trying because I've not only gone the wrong way, but I also don't even have a key to this red room of yours which is where Radiation is, I'm guessing."

"That's right," Karl confirmed. "Well, good luck with freezing to death. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet Vincent one more time before I leave this world for good."

"Wait," Re-L shouted which caused Karl to stop in his tracks just when he was about to disappear into the darkness beyond. She suddenly remembered what the gatekeeper told her before she entered this freezing wasteland. He told her this was the infamous pit known as Hell, or perhaps the area she was entering would be nothing more than a portal to Hell. If it was, then it was a very good portal seeing as how it almost completely replicated what was widely known to be the ninth annex of Dante's infernal realm. "Is this not the afterlife? If I still have to die, what will happen when my mind finally goes blank? Where will my soul be sentenced to?"

"You think you're soul will be sent to anywhere other than oblivion," Karl questioned casually. "Imagine that. A soul. You do realize such a thing his nothing more than a work of fiction, such as you yourself do you not? A soul is meant for both fairy tales and cowards. In fairy tales, the soul is a concept of spirit. It is an intangible body separate from physical affairs. The soul is an entity which is given to the characters of a story in order to reinforce the pathetic propaganda of cowards world wide. In reality, a soul is a product of fear. The second thing humans are deeply afraid of is death, the number one thing would be public speaking. I don't know which is a more shameful fear. Either way it slices, humanity is insanely afraid of death. However, they do not understand that death is the final serenity. The beauty in death is that there is no waking up. There is no conscious thought. If I were to try and explain it to a slow person such as yourself, I would say that death is the equivalent to a deep, dreamless sleep from which there is no waking."

"Are you telling me the only thing left is to die and expect no afterlife whatsoever," Re-L asked loudly but she did not receive a proper answer. Instead, Karl gave her one final wave and walked off. He disappeared completely after he walked away. Re-L simply sighed and looked down to her feet in a depressed manner. At this point, she had lost all hope. At this point, there was nothing left for her to do now but follow Karl's disturbing advice. She leaned over the ice coffin and took a look around. This place was dark, cold, but undisturbed. It was the perfect serenity for Re-L's eternal sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, the legend himself, Radiation was walking through a familiar wheat field. The area was completely silent. The green skeleton stared down towards two bodies which laid lifeless and cold on the ground. The first corpse belonged to a woman with all white hair and gold eyes which were glazed over completely. The second body lying next to her was clearly Brandon's. Indeed, the infamous Brandon had killed his own self in an attempt to prevent Monad from giving Vincent any vital information regarding Radiation. It may never be known why Brandon would do such a thing to himself. There was no clear reason for Radiation's secrets to be protected in such a zealous manner by Brandon, but none of the less, they were.

Radiation let out a long sigh and dropped his boney shoulders in disappointment. "Fool," he said in a nonchalant tone. "I told you to antagonize them, but you go killing yourself for the wrong reasons. I didn't need you to defend my work. I did not need you to jump off the cliff with that poor woman when she was attempting to tell Vince about my work. All I asked you to do was slow down their progress, yet you still get yourself killed in such a random manner. Damn you."

The skeleton then abruptly got down to his knees and grabbed Brandon's body by the hood of his jacket in an aggressive manner. "When I tell you to do something, you do it right down to the last letter. You don't go and expand upon what I want. I'm glad Monad is dead but there is no reason for you to be dead as well. It really is not as hard as you've made it out to be. It wasn't a complex request either. However, it is quite damning for you to do such a thing to me. Now, who will take your place? I have no back ups, or at least not off hand. By the time I create one, Vincent will find the red room and Re-L will have already killed herself. Do you not understand what I mean when I say antagonize them? Is it not a word that exists within your simplistic vocabulary? Now, you're dead and there is nothing more I can do but confront Vincent myself. No matter, but I am very disappointed in you. "To think that I was about to give you freedom if you did this simple task for me, yet you threw your opportunity out of a metaphorical window and into a pit of lava."

With that said, Radiation simply stood up and walked away. He left the two corpses to rot there in the sun. In a way, there was nothing else he could do. There was nothing else he wished to do with the corpses. He was definitely irritated by Brandon's incompetence. Radiation always hated incompetence. It was merely a distraction and a waste of precious time. Time will never come back, it will never return from whence it came. In comparison to a criminal, time is a thief. It steals the youth of men yet time is also the only criminal in existence that commits its acts against humanity consistently yet it never returns to the scene of the crime. For to return to its point of origin, time would be surrendering to immortality. To return to an original state of being, time would have to surrender its grasp on the human life span. It would have to become meaningless in every way which is feasible. Time would become just as meaningless and valueless as humanity itself.

While Radiation was no mindless mortal walking the earth to his inevitable and often times painful end; he was neither prone to mortality, nor was immortality out of his reach. He was an artist, nothing more, and most certainly nothing less. All artists must deal with time as a constant enemy. If they spend too long on their masterpiece, their audience might grow bored with waiting and move on towards a new form of masterpiece. In Radiation's case, he wanted to spend all of eternity making as many beautiful works of art as he possible could. This meant that Radiation had no time to waste even if he had all the time in the world.

"I must say though," Radiation spoke out as he walked away. "I will at least give Vincent his precious Monad back to him. I feel sorry for the poor bugger. He did have to deal with Re-L for the longest time so I'll reward him. Brandon, I'm afraid that means your death was completely in vein. But that really doesn't matter since you did not do what I asked of you. Regardless, I feel it will add more personality to him if he has a true companion. One that will not allow him to give up in the boring way Re-L Mayer has already done." Radiation abruptly stopped as he just remembered something of importance to him. "Oh dear, Re-L! I almost forgot. I picked a rose for her to lay with for the coming infinity. I'll just drop that off by her tomb on my way back to my house."

* * *

Back in the tomb of ice which Re-L was preparing to finally begin her eternal rest inside, the coffin of frozen water. She stood up on the table of ice which was supporting the coffin. She then placed her first foot, her second to follow. Re-L let out a deep breath and laid herself inside the empty coffin. The few random papers of Radiation's _Ergo Proxy _were now scattered on the floor around the coffin. She did not need anything else other than her own body in her new bed. It was actually quite comfortable. She only just now noticed a pillow in the coffin which was now under her head.

It only took a few minutes of her lying their before she heard footsteps coming towards her resting place. Just as she opened her eyes at the unexpected noise, she immediately widened her eyes to see ice growing over the empty space above her. The coffin was quite literally sealing itself in the same area where the lid of the coffin use to be before Re-L pushed it off. "Wait," she called out and abruptly threw herself forward, but she failed to move. The ice was also climbing up her legs and freezing her back and arms. "I don't want to die yet! Let me out!"

Just as she began screaming, Re-L quickly silenced herself as she noticed a familiar skeleton walking up to her. "_Radiation_," she called out but the skeleton did not so much as flinch. He merely stood their, looming over her as ice encased her entire body. As the layer of ice on top of the coffin began to freeze over, and quickly reformulated the lid, Radiation held up a black rose. As soon as Re-L saw the universal symbol of death, tears began to stream from her eyes and down her cheeks where they would immediately freeze.

"You want the answer to all questions," Radiation asked with a mocking tilt of his head. "Well let me tell you something little Re-L. You will never have it."

As ice quickly enclosed and solidified above Re-L, Radiation dropped the rose, allowing it to fall towards Re-L's face. The rose was then promptly frozen in mid air as the ice surrounded it. This would be a little decoration for Re-L's horribly cold grave. Soon, the entire coffin would fill to the brim with ice, completely blanketing Re-L. Her mind would be able to operate for only a few seconds after the ice covered her face. Reluctantly, at last minute, Re-L gave in to her fate. She relaxed her expressions to a look of sheer disappointment which would now be forever frozen in time. It was unclear as to what she was disappointed in. Perhaps she hated herself for giving up before she found Radiation, thus leading him to revealing himself to her one last time in a taunting manner. Or perhaps she was disappointed in the fact that she realized this was a tomb made entirely for her, yet she was not ready to die but she still accepted such a fate.

The tomb was now completely dark. With Re-L's flashlight sitting on the table next to the coffin, it would only provide illumination for a few more moments before it too abruptly flickered out. Was Re-L still alive in that case of ice? It is possible given the fact that the world she lived in now made no sense at all. However, it would be quite horrific if she was still alive. On the outside of the coffin, things were quite soothing. The light sound of water running through the carvings in the floor and the faint sound of wind outside gave this tomb a feeling of tranquility.

Inside the coffin on the other hand, it was completely mute and devoid of sound. Not even white noise penetrated the grave which would preserve Re-L's body perfectly for eons. She looked very peaceful in this state even though it would not take one very long to look into her glazed eyes to see she was still unsatisfied with her life prior to her burial in ice. Her eyelids half blanketed her pupils, and an eternal frown was locked to her face. Her hair was frozen in place as well but thankfully it was straight for the most part.

One can only ponder certain questions which can only be answered by a deity of omnipresence. I am one such entity. If I, the unbiased, third party could be so bold as to inform those few lucky spectators of Re-L's serene demise. She is dead, both mentally, and physically. One could say she might be dead in the physical sense, but her soul will live on in a different world. That is not the case. Now that she is dead, she is forever mute. She cannot hear, nor can she think. Re-L Mayer is unconscious in a permanent sense. Imagine one's life before they are born. It is infinity in its purest form. Now, apply that to one's life yet again only this time, there will be no birth to end the infinity.

Someone of an intellectual mind might be able to speculate, and combat such a remark. One might say the concept of infinity before birth is preposterous. The very definition of infinity is a means without end. The interval of darkness before birth is therefore finite. However, this is not the case. Certainly, there is an end to the interval before birth, yet where is the beginning? If it is truly not an infinite time between one's birth and the dawn of time, then there is a definite beginning just as there is a definite end. In essence, the time before creation is infinite. In reality, humanity was never created by this logic, yet it is present in the universe. If there is no beginning to creation, can there be an end? If one were to write a story book, how would they manage to write an ending if they skip the beginning without even planning it to start with?

I know the answer. There is no reason for creation at all. There is no cause yet there is an effect. No god has walked across the blank age and snapped his holy fingers. No two molecules have converged two create the universe, both of these theories are preposterous. There is simply one answer, and the answer does not matter. It is irrelevant, and there is no point in trying to find one.


	18. Dreamscape

**Dreamworld**

Vincent woke up in an unknown world which was covered in fog. The place was completely enveloped in the ghostly gray fog. The only thing he could see clearly would be his body although he could not see his feet. He could also see streetlights headed down a linear path ahead of him. They were the only symbols of guidance he had in this new, awkward world. He could not help but wonder what he was doing here. He scratched his head in confusion as he attempted to figure out just how on earth he was able to even get out here.

There was no reason for him to be here. Vincent could only remember the last time he saw Re-L when the two finally went their separate ways. He could remember walking down his own sky bridge towards some sort of massive stone object. It was a floating cube made entirely out of concrete and his bridge led directly to it.

Vincent looked around to see if he could figure out where he was. He surely was still on the sky bridge. Where else could he be? However, Vincent finally took notice into the streetlamps which were lined up ahead of him. Vincent then leaned down and placed his hand on the ground to see if he still actually was on the wooden sky bridge. Unfortunately, he was not. As soon as he placed his hand against the surface of the earth, the only thing he felt was pavement from a road. He let out a long sigh and stood up but as soon as he did, he gasped to see the fog was now completely disappearing before his eyes.

The fog then only became visible a good distance away, Vincent could now see where he was. He looked around to see he was indeed standing on a lonely road. The streetlamps turned off after the fog disappeared. Vincent scanned the area and immediately spotted a line of trees all around him. The trees were visibly changing colors and autumn leaves scattered the ground. At the center of this park-like area was a fountain. Water sprayed up into the air and fell back into the small pool on the ground where the process would repeat itself over and over again. For an eternity, this fountain had been operating and for the exact same amount of time, the forest surrounding Vincent had been trapped inside an eternal autumn.

"What is this place," Vincent asked himself. "Why am I here? How did I even get here?" He kept pondering to himself before he finally spoke out. "Is anybody out there," he called out yet he received no answer or at least not at first. Vincent became nervous after he heard the feedback from his voice echoing. If this place was so silent that he could actually hear an echo then this was rather unsettling. He would have called out again but he stopped himself as he heard a noise from behind. In the background, he could hear what sounded like the hoofs of a horse charging towards him from the right hand side of the road.

Vincent instinctively turned around to see what was headed for him. Sure enough, down the road a little ways, a figure on a black horse rode towards him. The figure was most certainly not Brandon seeing as how that particular masked individual was long dead. Rather, this individual looked to Vincent to be more of a knight. The knight wore the same set of armor that one would expect to see on a crusader. He had a sword tucked away in a scabbard at his waste and a shield attached to his right arm. The horseman rode up to Vincent and came to a stop just in front of him.

"Are you Vincent Law," the knight asked firmly. His voice was filtered by the metal helmet around his head which produced an almost metallic sound. The knight had kept his eyes on Vincent the entire time and for some strange reason, Vincent even noticed that the knight was not so much as breathing. In fact, his horse was not breathing either even though there is no way of telling how far the two have come just to see him.

"Yes," Vincent replied in a nervous manner. Seeing the knight was definitely unsettling. He saw the large broadsword already and knew he was completely isolated. If the knight wished to kill him there would be no way for Vincent to escape. He could not outrun a horse and there was no one around to assist him.

"Vincent Law," the knight began. "By the request of Mr. Radiation, your woman has been returned to you. However, Radiation has asked that I warn you not to grow to comfortable with this for she will not be around forever. This will only be a temporary state of affairs to boost your morale. He wants you to find the answers you seek but at this rate you will end up killing yourself and it will prove to be a very boring experience for all of us. Therefore, we return your Monad to you."

The knight then abruptly kicked his horse in the side which caused it to immediately trot off in the distance. "Wait," Vincent called out but it was no use. The unnamed night simply rode off and did not look back. Vincent groaned in annoyance but almost instantly stopped his whining when he spotted something just in front of him. Once the knight moved out of the way, Vincent could see a park bench facing away from him. On that bench sat a young woman with familiar white hair and an all white outfit.

"Monad," Vincent asked in a quiet tone. He simply could not believe that one minute nothing would be there and right after the knight left, Monad had appeared. She did not turn around to face him nor did she even hear him for that matter seeing as how he was so quiet. Vincent silently approached Monad and placed a hand on her shoulder which only naturally caused her to jump at the unexpected feeling. "_Monad_," Vincent questioned once more.

The woman he kept calling Monad finally turned around to face him. Her face brightened up as she noticed who was behind her. "Vincent," Monad greeted. Nothing about her outward appearance would signify nothing at all that he might consider to be out of the ordinary. In fact, Monad seemed to be very normal for once. In some cases, her overly sweet and kind personality gave off a bit of a creep factor, but for some reason she was perfectly normal now. It was through this normality that Vincent felt uneasy as he watched Monad reach over to him and grab his right hand. The fact that she was acting so normal and mundane was not sitting well in a world constructed out of insanity.

"Come sit down," Monad requested and practically pulled Vincent over the bench. He smiled and calmly walked around to the front side of the bench where he took a seat. As soon as he did finally take his seat, Vincent spotted a small box in Monad's lap. "I made you this," Monad informed as she slowly took the box out of her lap and held it out of Vincent to grab.

Naturally, Vincent grabbed hold of the box and placed it in his lap. "Thank you," Vincent said with obvious confusion in his voice. It was nice that Monad gave him a present, but unless it was a book with the answers to all of his questions written on it, Vincent would have no use for anything else. He then moved the cardboard lid off of the box and reached inside. His hand was met with a very smooth, round surface. He lifted a curious eyebrow as he pulled this object out of the box. Vincent was surprised to see Monad's gift was actually a jade egg which was of reasonable size. He had no idea how she managed to acquire such an object but he did enjoy it.

Vincent turned and gave yet another thankful nod to Monad. However, that nod and smile were immediately replaced with a look of disorientation as Vincent noticed his surroundings had completely changed. The two were no longer in an autumn forest, but a black void in a starless space. They still sat on the park bench but that was the only thing that followed them to this new plain of existence. Vincent frantically looked around for anything that might give him information on his current whereabouts, but he could see nothing more than darkness. This void was completely absent of light. He could only see as far as Monad who was still only a foot away from him, but even though she was very close to him, he could still only see a vague outline of her.

"There is nothing which may never come from something," Monad proclaimed in a more depressed tone of voice. She looked down to her empty lap and kicked her feet around. "When we see nothing, there is usually nothing to be seen. Can you hear that? I think I hear something? Did you say something? Vincent, why won't you answer me," Monad continuously pestered. Vincent probably would have responded had Monad have even been making the slightest sense at all during her rambling. He could not understand what she was talking about. She was just spouting a bunch of nonsense from his perspective.

"What are you talking about," asked Vincent. His own confusion was beginning to cloud his senses. Monad was acting erratically for some reason which was very odd for someone who was always so well behaved.

"Can you see that," Monad asked as if Vincent had not said anything at all. She appeared to be lost in her own world at this point. Either she was not hearing Vincent properly, she had gone insane, or she was perceiving reality from a different angle even though there was only one way to perceive reality. She then abruptly began laughing for no clear reason. "I know. You're right Vincent. We should have come here a long time ago."

Vincent stood up in an aggressive manner, allowing the jade egg and box to fall out of his lap and down into oblivion where it disappeared. Strangely enough, while those objects were free to fall to their awaiting doom, the bench, Vincent, and Monad were still in their same spot as if they were on level ground. Monad looked down, she appeared to have noticed the egg falling. "Why," she questioned in a hurt tone of voice which caused Vincent to back away. "Why did you throw it away? I gave it to you because I thought you would like it."

Why was she able to perceive that one action but not the words Vincent was saying? Vincent wasted no time trying to figure out why this was the case nor did he say anything to Monad. Instead he turned away and looked out towards the void beyond. "_Radiation_," Vincent shouted in a surprisingly aggressive tone. "I know you're out here! Show yourself! I'm sick of running around these places for no reason! Just come out and tell me what's going on! What are you trying to do to me!?"

After Vincent's outburst, the very next thing he saw was an enormous green figure taking shape in the void. It was too blurry for him to see but due to the size of this thing, he could tell it was not Radiation, and if it was, then he must be hallucinating. Soon enough, this figure became more clear and took on the form of the green skeleton in the black suit. Before Vincent could say anything, another enormous green figure came into vision just next to the first one. This same process repeated itself until Vincent and Monad were completely surrounded by them.

"Where are you," Vincent shouted as his eyes averted from each skeleton which did closely resemble the man he was looking for but they were to large to be the one and only Radiation. Right after Vincent said this, the images of the skeletons abruptly began laughing in an odd way as if they were out of breath. "Shut up," Vincent exclaimed. At the sound of his abrupt outburst all of the skeletons suddenly shattered like glace. The pieces of their images then fell down into the void below and were never to be seen again. Vincent watched widened his eyes as this happened. He also began wondering for a split second, what it must be like to fall for an eternity here in a void such as this.

Vincent turned back to face Monad who was still sitting there on the bench, however, he noticed something about the void had changed. Instead of nothing, just behind Monad was a visible hallway that looked to have once belonged to an office building. There were several overhead lights in this hall but they were all flickering in an unsettling manner. Vincent tilted his head as he noticed a twitching figure sitting in the middle of the hall a good distance away from him and Monad. The figure was that of a little girl with long black hair, and wore a red dress. She sat in a wooden chair and was currently facing the opposite direction which only resulted in Vincent being able to see anything more than the back of her head.

The woman kept twitching back and forth in a disturbing manner. Vincent kept his eyes on the young person for some time before he finally glanced down to Monad who was still sitting there on the bench, staring off into space. "I'll be right back, Monad," Vincent informed. He waited for an answer or even a wordless nod but nothing of the sort came his way. Monad was definitely not herself, that much was becoming clear to Vincent if everything else was unknown to him. He sighed and bowed his head in defeat, giving up on ever hearing Monad's reply. Instead of waiting here for an eternity, Vincent moved forward. He walked past Monad who in turn does not stand up and follow him. He approached the woman down the hall in an extremely cautious manner. "Hello," Vincent questioned in a whisper but he received no reply.

He only made it to about the halfway point between Monad and the child in the Monad when a trapdoor opened up in between the young girl in the chair. The child immediately fell inside the hole which was created underneath her. Vincent found it strange that she did not so much as scream when she fell. Vincent took a defensive step backwards on natural instinct. However, as soon as he stepped backwards, he felt his body back up into something.

Vincent quickly turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin to see a tall man standing behind him, or at least, what appeared to be a man. The man, or creature, was actually very familiar to Vincent as soon as he gained a better look at the entity before him. The man had a set of robes completely covering his body. The only odd thing about his appearance would be a large eyeball in place of what should be a head.

"Literature," Vincent asked in astonishment. He was genuinely not expecting to see the all knowing entity again. "What are you doing here," Vincent questioned further. Literature tilted his eye curiously at the unexpected question. Literature assumed Vincent already knew why he was here. Literature even told him that he would be revisiting Vincent one more time for a very specific purpose as to finding Vincent's answer to one of his own questions.

"Do you not remember the question I asked you to think over," asked Literature. "I seem to recall speaking to you once before which is undoubtedly why you remembered my name. I said I would be returning to finally hear your answer to my question. Do you remember now? I asked you if there was a god present in the heavens, then would life not be null and void? I asked you to tell me if there is a god present in your specific world. If so, then would life not be given meaning, or would it be even more meaningless than it is without a god?"

"Literature, please," Vincent begged. "This is not the time for..."

"Oh, but it is," Literature asserted with an aggressive step towards Vincent which in turn caused him to instinctively back away. "There is always a time for contemplation, Vincent Law. There is always a time for in depth thought in the face of a world of ignorance and shame. Now then, I have given you plenty of time to think over your answer. Keep in mind that there is a right and wrong answer. You could be wrong in answering my question, or correct. Only I would know. Only I, a being of true enlightenment could say for certain. I am what makes an enlightened society. Would you not agree?"

Vincent let out a long sigh and bowed his head in submission. He realized very quickly that he would not get anywhere by debating over whether or not he should even give an answer. "No," Vincent groaned. "There is no God, and even if there was, there would still be no meaning in life. No matter what I do, I will not be achieving something because another individual has already done so. The world is exactly how it seems, and there is no point in trying to change it."

"_Really_," Literature inquired. "Well, you have the correct answer. But let me propose several more questions to you before I let you go. If there is no point in doing anything and you have finally been enlightened to this all defining truth. Then why do you pursue Radiation? What will you gain out of finding that man? Do you really think he will help you?"

"No," Vincent said with a shake of his head. "I don't think Radiation will 'help me' at all. I doubt he'll care enough to help me. I most certainly won't gain anything out of it either. It's not like Radiation will have some sort of treasure or reward for me. The only reason I want to find him is because I just want to know what this place is. I want to know what he has to do with all of this. I know he says he's only around because he's writing a book about me or something of that nature. That's probably why you're involved in all of this as well. So no, there is no point to finding Radiation other than for educational purposes, I suppose. Does that answer your questions?"

Literature lowered the hood over his head and nodded approvingly. "Yes, I suppose those are very reasonable answers," Literature confirmed. "I halfway expected you to say something along those lines. In reality, there is no real reason for you to do anything but if you want to, then I suppose that his justifiable in of itself. Good luck, Vincent Law. I hope what you seek does not destroy you."

With that said, Literature abruptly turned away and began walking off into the void. "Wait," Vincent exclaimed. He still had something on his mind. There was something he could not help but ponder on a certain topic. As soon as he called out to Literature, the creature in the robes stopped and only slightly turned to face him. "Do you know where Radiation is? Where can I find him?"

"He awaits you in the red room," Literature informed. With nothing more to say, Literature disappeared just before Vincent's eyes could process what had happened. As soon as Vincent realized Literature was gone, he shook his head in disorientation before turning away to see what Monad was doing. Surprisingly, she was completely unfazed by anything that just happened. She was still sitting on the bench talking to herself.

Vincent's face dropped to a more depressed expression and he slowly approached Monad. He took a seat back on the bench next to her. She did not look at him nor acknowledge that he had even left to begin with. Instead, she sat there staring off into space with glassy eyes, talking away as if she were giving a presentation in front of a large audience of formal onlookers. He watched her for a few moments as she continued her mindless rambling. By her words alone, he could not tell if she was still complaining about him accidentally losing the jade egg she gave him or if she was just speaking to speak. He was growing more and more curious about her. At first she was speaking with him directly, and in real time. Now, her perception and senses seemed to be trapped in a different plain of time while her body was still here with Vincent. That theory would definitely explain why Monad was behaving so incoherently.

She glanced to Vincent for a split second, and Vincent could not even see her do it but she then averted her eyes back to face the void. She did not so much as stop her rambling when she did this. "You lost it when I got it just for you. Do you remember when I got it for you. You looked so happy. Yet you threw it away. Did you just hear something? I think it's raining outside. Why couldn't you have held onto it? I don't understand. I thought you liked it. Did you not like my gift. Please answer me. I'm not angry with you. Not at all."

Vincent did not respond to her pleading for an answer at first. However, after awhile he gave in and said something. "Why are you acting this way? Is something wrong? Before you fell of that cliff, you were going to tell me something. You were going to tell me about Radiation. What happened? What's going on with the green skeleton?"

As soon as he said something to Monad, she stopped her rambling and widened her eyes. Vincent leaned away from her in an uncomfortable manner as she turned to look straight at him. "Why are you talking to a dead body," asked Monad with an unsettling look in her eyes.

Vincent was naturally confused by her choice of words at this point. Why would she say something so ominously? Vincent was about to say something else but he was interrupted as Monad's body abruptly began aging extremely quickly to the point where her body ended up rotting and decaying before Vincent's very eye. Her skin turned pale, and eventually blackened as her body decayed to the point of being an unrecognizable corpse with a few strands of white hair on her head. Her cloths became tattered and most of her skull was now visible. Once the process had finally stopped, Monad's body fell backwards onto the bench.

"Monad," Vincent asked in a shaken tone. He did not understand what just happened at first. He grabbed Monad by the shoulders and shook her violently. "_Monad_..." Vincent then abruptly released the corpse as he realized what was going on. That mysterious knight who visited him earlier said that Monad's reappearance would only be temporary, and that he should not grow to comfortable with her. Vincent sighed once more with sorrow growing within him. He did not think the knight ought to be taken so literally nor did he expect the knight's warning to apply to him within a few minutes after they met. He spoke to a corpse which would explain why Monad was not acting like herself. With despair now weighing Vincent down, the only thing he possibly could do was attempt to track down the old green skeleton everyone was so fond of calling 'Radiation.' He should have the answers to what happened to Monad if nobody else did.

Vincent then gave up his useless attempts to wake Monad up entirely. He looked up but as soon as he did, he realized he was no longer in an empty void. He, Monad's corpse, and the bench they both sat on were now positioned in yet another weird dimension of space. Vincent was now trapped in a harbor of some sort. The area was lined with buildings behind him and two his sides, but directly ahead of him was a line of concrete docks which lead to a calm ocean. There was a fountain in the center of this harbor but it was much more elaborate than the one he had already seen. It was made up of seven stone statues depicting cherubs which produced the water from their hands.

The last standing man stood up and approached the fountain. He came to a stop just at the edge and looked down into the calm waters. Vincent immediately jumped to see a familiar green skeleton standing there in the water, as if he were Vincent's reflection. Radiation was currently in a sitting position. He stared at Vincent silently. The fountain was covered in little red rose petals which floated around the skeleton. Vincent felt relieved to have finally found the man he had been searching for all this time. Without a single word, he abruptly dived into the fountain.

It would appear that the fountain was nothing more than a portal to another world. As soon as Vincent jumped in, he did not land on concrete but instead, he splashed out of the saltwater and into the middle of the ocean. Vincent then looked up to see Radiation standing on thin air, sideways just above him. "Radiation," Vincent shouted and grabbed the skeleton by the collar of his suit. Radiation only responded to this by grabbing a hold of Vincent's face and shoving him back into the water.

* * *

Vincent found himself falling from the sky. Radiation was right above him with his bony hand around Vincent's neck. Vincent watched Radiation for only a moment before he turned to his right where he spotted a giant waterfall crashing down to the earth a good distance. Vincent naturally widened his eyes at the unexpected scene. He then turned to the left and sure enough, there was yet another waterfall on the opposite side. Where was he now?

He turned back to face Radiation as the two continued to fall into a seemingly bottomless pit. "What's going on," asked Vincent. "Who are you!? Why am I here? What are phases? What is the point in all of this? Answer me!"

Radiation tilted his skull to the right in a slightly sympathetic manner. "I'm guessing you haven't picked up on any of it yet, my dear Vincent. I thought you would have by now, but no matter. You'll know soon enough. Now tell me, what happened to Pino and Re-L? Did you grow so annoyed with them that you parted ways or did you just kill them? I already know the answer. And I know the answers to all of your inquiries. However, I debate with myself. Does someone such as yourself deserve to know? What will you gain out of it? At one point you didn't even want to know. So tell me, why are you so curious all of a sudden? What about me captures your interest when nothing else in this world does?"

"I just want to know," Vincent informed. "I want to know something before I die. It might as well be why I died?"

The green skeleton tightened his grip on Vincent's neck. "Like I said," Radiation repeated. "You will know soon enough. I'll give these answers to you out of sheer pity. I think I might have miss interpreted you as a character. I may have, but it really does not matter anymore. I think it turned out quite nicely. Although, I cannot figure out which one of you is more intolerable. The real one, or the one I have created."

"What are you talking about," asked Vincent.

"I'm talking about you in comparison to the character in my book," Radiation replied. "At any rate, I hope I have created the perfect Vincent Law to play his role in my story which I have called Ergo Proxy. As you may recall, I am writing a beautiful tragedy about three characters. Vincent Law, Re-L Mayer, and Pino. Vincent Law is the cowardly soul with a great power but his cowardice denies him the ability to be taken seriously. Re-L is a useless soul and Pino as comic relief, yet she also adds a good balance between the two extremes personality which would be Vincent and Re-L. Yet now I wonder, which one is better, the real one or the fake one?"

"I don't care about the damn book," Vincent exclaimed.

"You will shortly," Radiation assured. "By the way, do you still have the key Karl Vagaer gave you. I wish he wouldn't have given it to you, but I suppose it does not matter seeing as how you already have it."

"Yeah," replied a confused Vincent.

Then you know where to find me," Radiation insisted.

Before Vincent could get another word out, he felt the sting of water underneath him. As soon as he passed through the water, he felt Radiation's grip on his neck suddenly abandon him. Radiation immediately disappeared as soon as Vincent fell into the water.

* * *

It would take some time, an entire year in fact, but Vincent would wake up sooner rather than later in a familiar bed. The room was warm, and homely. It was also fresh with his scent. He opened his emerald eyes to see the same ceiling he use to see everyday. It took Vincent a few moments to come back to reality, but when he did, he instantly sat up in his bed. It would not take him but a second to realize that he was now in his bedroom in the small Ukrainian town of Pripyat.

He could not believe it. For the first time in far too long, Vincent was home.


	19. Nexus

**Nexus**

The town of Pripyat was completely silent, as was the only occupied apartment in the entire town. Vincent stared out the window of his bedroom towards his empty hometown. The poisoned air went in and out of his lungs as he watched the empty home. Vincent then pushed himself away from the window and back to the darkness of his bedroom. The sun had already set over the radioactive town, and the only light in the area was coming from Vincent's hallway. He turned around and walked towards the well lit hallway which connected his bedroom to the living room and kitchen area.

He stepped out of the bedroom and into his hallway with a depressed expression on his face. It also appeared to be a tired expression as well. He felt half asleep even though had been fully awake for the past two hours. Just when he was about to walk into his living room, he stopped in front of the restroom which was wide open, but the lights were off. He turned to face the restroom and took a step inside before reaching up with his hand. He switched the light on and looked around into the empty room with a melancholy look in his eyes.

Vincent looked down to the counter where he spotted a bottle of disinfectant, and a roll of medical bandages next to it. He walked up to the counter and picked up both of these items which immediately triggered memories from a day or two ago. Vincent then slowly looked up to the mirror, where he did not see his reflection but Vincent did not really care at this point. Instead, he saw himself actively wrapping the bandages around Re-L's arm. Vincent felt a cloud of sorrow envelope him as the reflection faded away. He placed both items back on the counter, and walked back towards the open door. He switched the light off before leaving the bathroom.

He then walked into the living room where a lot of his time use to be spent. There was a single television on the far side just in front of a red couch. Vincent sighed at the sight of this empty room. There was nobody here but himself. He could feel the overwhelming silence which use to plague him long before Re-L, Pino, or Vladimir ever showed up in his life. This place was just as quiet as it use to be. He remembered waking up to more silence everyday. Sometimes, he could have even sworn that his apartment was growing more and more quiet with every passing day. The only solace he had was when he heard voices from behind a wall in another apartment or outside his door in the hallway of his floor in the building.

He clenched his hands into fists as he walked over to the couch and laid down on it. He sat there for a few minutes before something abruptly disturbed the silence. He heard something hit the leather recliner next to the sofa. Vincent looked up for a split second to see if anything was lurking nearby. Indeed, there was something nearby, but it was not Re-L coming to visit him out of some kind of miracle. Vincent spotted a familiar crow standing perched up on the top of his black recliner. The crow had a more prideful stance as it averted its head towards him in a twitching motion. The crow then looked away and expanded both of its wings as if it were about to fly. The bird then flew off towards an open window and out into the radiated world.

Vincent rolled his eyes and stood up off of the couch. He stared at the window for a brief interval of silence. He then slowly walked past the couch and recliner. He then went straight past the dining room and towards the wall where the open window was positioned. Vincent leaned out and scanned the general area for any sign of the black bird which he had seen several times during the madness which use to plague him. He the suddenly caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards a nearby street and looked to a telephone pole just in front of his apartment complex. There on the very top of the pole was a crow. The same crow that has probably been watching him all of this time for an unknown reason. It stared at him ominously for a little while before it unexpectedly leaped into the air and glided off to the other side of the road where it landed on one of the power lines. Vincent watch all of this happen, making sure to keep his eyes on the crow. He clenched his hands tightly on the frame of the window as he watched the bird. It then looked directly back at him and waved its wings around for whatever reason.

It took Vincent a few minutes to figure out what the bird is doing, but when he finally understood, he widened his eyes in astonishment. He was suppose to follow the bird. He looked down and reached into the left pocket of his pants and pulled out an equally red key which was given to him by a man named Karl Vagaer. Vincent had no idea what this man's intentions were when he gave him this key and he would most likely never know. However, he at least had the key. Now, if his guess was correct, the bird would lead him straight to the red door. The same red door Radiation claimed to be behind, waiting for him.

Vincent quickly ran back towards the front door and threw it open. He would need to hurry if he hoped to find this place before the sun completely left this hemisphere. While it was growing dark outside and the sun had already set, there was still a small amount of dim sunlight escaping from the horizon to illuminate his way. Now, he would just need to find the red door before it became to dark to see the all black bird which was guiding him.

* * *

Twenty more minutes would pass before the crow flew down to a bench on the side of the road and rested on top of it. It then looked towards a thin alleyway where Vincent was currently running out of. The man in the red suit came to a stop just in front of the bird and leaned down, while panting irregularly. The bird did not so much as flinch when this strange animal called a human ran up to it. The bird merely watched him as he continuously attempted to catch his breath. After a few moments, Vincent looked up to the bird and gave a thankful nod. He saw the office building the bird led him to and knew this was the building that housed both Radiation and the red door. With that nod of gratefulness out of the way, the crow's duty was over. It then flew away into oblivion.

Vincent was alone again, now. He soon caught his breath and resumed regular breathing patterns. He stood upright and looked towards the lonely monolith looming over him. There were no lights on inside. However, one thing Vincent did notice which caused him to gasp slightly was the window to the second level of the complex. He could see through one of the windows which was directly adjacent to a red door. Vincent wasted no time and immediately ran towards the entrance. He pushed open the unlocked doors and entered the lobby where he began scanning the area for any sign of a way up to the second level. There behind the front desk was the doorway to a flight of stairs.

He ran towards the front desk, vaulting over it as he entered its range and threw the door to the stairs open. Vincent hurried up the first flight of steps and turned before heading up the second flight of steps which would lead him to the floor he desired to be on. Yet another door blocked Vincent's way but he refused to allow it to keep him from his goal of finally confronting Radiation. He pushed this door open as well and stopped as he entered a hallway on the second floor. Vincent looked towards the right side of the hall where it made a left hand turn at the end of the line. That turn off would lead him to the red door. Vincent quickly ran down this hallway and turned to the left where he immediately spotted the red door on the left wall, while the right wall was lined with windows. Vincent rushed up to the door and came to a stop just in front of it.

With shaking hands, Vincent reached back into his pocket and pulled out the matching key. He held it out to examine for a few moments before he grabbed a hold of the red doorknob and forced the key into the hole. Vincent then gripped knob tightly before twisting it until the door opened. He then pushed the red door away, granting him a view of what was inside the room it guarded. The room was completely black. It was not dark, but the walls, floor, and ceiling were painted black. The floor was tiled with what appeared to be black marble. The walls were made of a black alloy of some sort. There was technically no visible ceiling. The walls simply curved into each other at the top of the room, producing what looked to be an egg shape. The room itself was massive. It seemed to be far too large to be able to fit inside this average sized building, but none of the less it did. Either that, or the red door was a portal to yet another dimension. Regardless of this, Vincent did not seem to care about what this place was. He was far too shocked by what was inside the room to even notice who physically inconvenient it was. While the room was black, light was not an issue. Among the walls and floor, all around Vincent, small red bolts of light swam freely in the room. They were nothing more than streaks of light which were guided by a glowing red orb. They did not interract with Vincent but these beams of light were the same as the black streaks Re-L found in that pool of blue goo.

Vincent did not spend too much time contemplating these enigmas of light. Instead, he began hearing a strange voice. Vincent looked up to the ceiling to see if he could figure out where the source of this echoing voice came from. This voice described every thought, every action, every expression he had. Indeed, he has discovered my voice.

"Who's there," Vincent questioned loudly, searching the ceiling for answers.

"Who do you think," I ask him. "For it is me. The narrator of your life. I hear your thoughts, I know your fears. I watch you day in, and day out. I am that which tells the story to an audience of curious readers. I am a creation of the one you call Radiation. I am an agent of your god."

"What are you talking about," Vincent inquired out of his own shock.

Before I could say anything to him in return, another voice spoke out from behind Vincent. "Maybe you should ask me such things." Vincent only naturally turned around and took a defensive step backwards after noticing Radiation standing behind him. Indeed, the skeleton he searched for after all this time was here before him at long last.

"Radiation," Vincent exclaimed out of his own frustration. "What's going on!? I found you, now you have to tell me everything. That's what we agreed upon."

"Correct," Radiation acknowledge with an approving salute. "Vincent Law, I told you I was writing a book about you. Or well, a man named Vincent Law, did I not." Vincent nodded in response and Radiation continued. "I believe I told you it was called Ergo Proxy, correct?" Vincent nodded once more but remained quiet.

Radiation sighed to himself and crossed his arms. "Well, I apologize Vincent, but I was lying to you. Everything I told you was a fib. I told you that my story Ergo Proxy was written about three characters, all of which were based on you, Pino, and Re-L Mayer. Truth be told, that simply is not correct. I am writing a story, but Vincent, it is not called Ergo Proxy, and it is not about three people surviving in a wasteland. Nay, it is about three people surviving a swirling pit of madness until the find me here. Well Vincent Law, I can proudly say the curtain is ready to come up thanks to you. My name is Radiation, and I am the author of a book called _Redshift_."

"What are you talking about," Vincent inquired slowly.

Radiation tilted his skull to the right for some odd reason. "I'm telling you, Vincent Law, that I might have told you a large fib. You see, it is not you that I write a book about. I'm telling you, that there is no story called Ergo Proxy. Vincent, you are the main protagonist of Redshift. I am your creator. I am the author. The man you were previously speaking to is the narrator. How could you not know by now? Do you really thing something such as the things you have already been to could actually happen to someone in the real world? Of course not. I created a fake journey for you and the others in order to make a fantastic story, revolving around three people trapped in a surreal plain of existence. A plain that makes no logical sense whatsoever. I told you that I was writing a character based on you but that is false. I write my character based on the real Vincent Law, and you are my fictitious character. You are based on Vincent Law, a man who is currently riding through a dying world on a ship called the Centzon. I write down the plot and the narrator describes it for the good readers of the world. I tell you what to do, you claim you will not, but you will. I want you to do something, you refuse, but you do it regardless. They want you to live, you reject them, yet you still do what is requested. You are the tragic hero of my story. You exist to be miserable. Your the man who cannot speak for himself. You want me do great things for you, but I will not. You ask for a happy ending to your life, yet I give this to you not. You whisper for revelation, yet I refuse to enlighten. We are enemies, Vincent. You are the protagonist, I am the author. Usually, a story follows a protagonist fighting off an antagonist, but there is no antagonist to Redshift. You are the hero and I am the author. You work for a happy life and I work against you. I am the author of a tragedy which makes me your true enemy yet I am no antagonist. You cry for a villain but you have no one to fight but me."

"But that can't be true," Vincent retorted.

"If it was not true then why does it describe you perfectly," asked Radiation. "Do you remember anything before the day you met Vladimir Malikov, Pino, and Re-L Mayer? Do they remember their lives prior to meeting you? No. The reason is because I created them in that very moment. You claim to have memories yet you cannot see them with your mind's eye. That is because the memories are false. After all, every character must have back story, correct? I give you vague back stories to make Redshift more real, more in depth. Yet you characters take them too seriously. You only exist when the reader glances over the pages. You loop through this story, through every mistake, and every triumph. That is what you are Vincent. A fictional character, in a fictional story."

Vincent tilted his head in shock. "You're telling me that I'm just a character? Is that why this world is the way it is? That's why Literature kept pestering me on the topic of God, isn't it. This world has a god, you. Because of that, life is constantly toyed with. That's why lost souls exist, that's why Brandon exists. It's all just a stage for your own entertainment which makes life even more meaningless than it would be without a god."

"Well, you've successfully put two and two together," Radiation complemented. "I wouldn't go so far as to say you only exist to serve my boredom. You mostly exist to entertain the readers. Not me. In a way, I find myself depressed that this must happen to you, but the show must go on."

The young man in the red suit then promptly allowed himself to drop to his knees. He was beginning to understand at long last. He was obviously not to thrilled about the idea of being nothing more than a clown vying for the entertainment of others, but alas it is so. He adopted a blank expression on his face and looked down to the black floor while Radiation remained silent. The skeleton watched as Vincent processed this disturbing information. "I don't believe you," Vincent retorted. "I can remember my life so vividly before this moment. And you're trying to say they're all false memories?"

"That's exactly what I am attempting to tell you," Radiation confirmed flatly. "I just made sure your back story was very in depth so you would remain in character. I ensured that it was symbolic and coincided with the back story of the real Vincent Law of course. In actuality, Vincent. You're nobody. You are simply an entity only capable of linear thought processes which I write up. Everything you have experienced, everything you have thought, felt, and done, have all been of my writing. You do not truly exist. You're more or less a figure of speech in a way. Vincent Law is not real, for Vincent law exists not on the physical plain, but in a literary realm."

"If that's true," Vincent argued once more. He forced himself to stand back up on his feet as he spoke with the green skeleton. "Then why am I here? Why have I broken the forth wall? Surely, you never wanted me to find this place. That would mean that I came here out of my own accord and found this place through my own free will. Correct?"

"Wrong," Radiation dismissed almost instantaneously. "You really were not listening a second ago were you? I'll reexplain in case you were not. I wrote this story originally to be the tragic journey of a young man who dies from a poisoned world. Yet as the story progressed I decided to toy with the world I created. Then my story naturally spiraled out of control and I decided to allow the protagonist to see this place. It is the place of your birth. It is the place where you as an entity are defined. And you have been defined as a tragic creature. A sorry individual who has discovered the truth of the world around him. That truth remains to be the fact that everything around you is a cruel hoax."

Radiation then turned away before he continued his explanation. "Everybody will love you, but you will fail to love them. Everyone will want love between you and Re-L, but you two will grow to despise each other." Radiation then twirled back around to look Vincent in the eye. It took him a moment to say something but he would eventually resume his depressing speech. "The audience desires you to become heroic and brave, yet you remain a cowardly soul. They will want you to live a happy life, but you will not. These things are boring, these tropes are overused. Comedies disgust me for they are unrealistic. Tragedies are clearly superior, which is why Redshift is one such tragedy."

The skeleton then walked towards Vincent, heading clear past him and towards the door. He then shut the red door and walked over to the left side of it where a desk was positioned. Vincent examined this desk and noticed an open book on the desk with a single pen writing out words without someone to use it. The pen was literally writing the book all by itself. It wrote down what Radiation wanted down to the last letter. Radiation took a seat at this desk and grabbed the pen before he took over the writing for himself. "Vincent," he began. "Behind you is a door. If you still do not believe me, then take that door, and see for yourself what I speak of."

Vincent glanced behind himself and surely enough, on the far side of the room was a black door which was closed off. Vincent turned back towards Radiation one more time before he walked off towards the door on the opposite side of the room. "Where will this take me to," Vincent inquired just as he came to a stop in front of the door and hesitantly reached for the knob.

"You'll see for yourself," Radiation reassured. "After all, nobody likes spoilers." With that said, Vincent simply turned the knob and pulled the door open. He immediately flinched when he felt an insane wind blow into the room. "Hurry up and shut that door," Radiation called out just when Vincent forced himself out of the room and closed the door behind himself. "Good," Radiation calmly murmured and returned to his work.

* * *

Vincent stepped out onto a cold, barren wasteland. The area was dark as if night had befallen it. Vincent looked up to see a thick layer of clouds covering the entire sky above. The surrounding landscape was completely desolate. There was neither a soul, nor an artificial light in sight. This appeared to be the same arduous wasteland Radiation had described to Vincent. This would mean that he was not fibbing, or at least not about Vincent's world being fictional when compared to a place such as this.

He turned around to see what was behind him and surely enough, he spotted two people right in front of him. They both stared at him with curious faces. The first person was a man, the same age as Vincent in a red suit. As a matter of fact, this strange looked exactly like Vincent. That was because, he is Vincent, and Vincent is also him. To the right of this man was a young girl who looked exactly like Pino. Although, Vincent could not help but notice that she was made entirely of metal.

"Look, Vince," the metal girl exclaimed cheerfully, sounding exactly like Pino. "It's you!"

The man who looked identical to Vincent was holding a pile of small twigs in his hands, presumably to be used for a fire. "Hello," he asked with a shocked expression. "Who are you?"

Vincent said nothing to either of them, he simply smiled in a sorrowful manner, and looked to the ground. "Okay, Radiation," Vincent said to himself quietly. "Okay. I understand now." Vincent then shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking off towards a nearby door. One odd thing about this door was that there was no building connected to it. The door was standing there for no reason other than to take Vincent from one world to another.

"Hey, where are you going," the man in red inquired but Vincent said nothing to him. Instead, he silently approached the door which opened up for him as he came within range. Radiation leaned out of the door which caused the two people who were unfamiliar with the green skeleton to jump in surprise at the sight of the walking corpse.

"I told you so," Radiation gloated in a teasing tone of voice. "Now, do you believe me?"

Vincent came to a stop in front of the green skeleton and glared at him. Without any form of warning, Vincent lunged at Radiation as if he were attempting to attack his own creator. Radiation merely stepped to the side before grabbing Vincent by the back of the head and slamming him into the edge of the door which in turn, caused him to collapse onto the ground.

"Well, that was not expected," Radiation sighed as he wiped off some dust on his suit. He then turned and waved to Vincent and Pino. "It was a pleasure. Goodbye now." Pino waved back at Radiation in a cheerful manner. She being so young with an innocent mind, Pino did not understand the truly unsettling nature of seeing a living skeleton. The man who looked identical to Vincent, the real Vincent Law, on the other hand, was not as welcoming.

"Wait," Vincent requested right when Radiation bent down to grab the other Vincent by the collar and drag him back through the door where he belonged. Radiation stopped what he was doing and turned to Vincent curiously. "Who are you people," asked Vincent. "Are you another Proxy," he inquired further, knowing that it was very unusual, actually, impossible to see a walking skeleton before him. This would be the only logical explanation, although, the real Vincent did not realize that in Radiation's world, logic does not apply.

Radiation then held his head up pridefully and walked up to Vincent. He then held his bony hand out for Vincent to shake, naturally, Vincent did this on instinct. "My name is Radiation," the skeleton informed. "I already know who you are, you're Vincent Law. I must say, I am a big fan of yours. The man you see behind me is not to concern you, for he is nothing more than homunculus trapped in the real world. I will be removing him from this plane of existence now, so I bid you adieu. And may I also be so bold as to wish you good luck to whatever it is you plan on doing now. Farewell."

Vincent raised his hand nervously to try and regain attention. "But where did you come from? And why does that man look so much like me?" Radiation ignored Vincent at first. He grabbed his creation by the shoulders and forcefully pushed him back into the doorway and out of Vincent's sight. Radiation then stood upright once more and glanced towards Vincent before immediately returning his attention to the Vincent of his own creation.

"Well, you got to see the real world," Radiation insisted. "I didn't have to be so kind but I allowed you the satisfaction of seeing that which your are based on. Now, it's time to go home. The show must go on! Your story is now coming to an end. This being the climax of course. The only thing left is for you to experience a miserable tragedy. You need a little sorrow in your meaningless farce of an existence."

"Who are you," Vincent asked from behind in a louder tone of voice, just to gain attention.

Radiation turned back to him while shoving his hands in the pockets of his black pants. "Vincent, have you ever heard of a man named Faust?" Radiation waited for a response but judging by his silence, Radiation could already guess the answer. "I'll take that as a no. Doctor Faustus was a tragic figure in German literature. He was a highly educated and studied a multitude of subjects. He was well versed in many things yet his social life was not up to par with his education. Faust decided to improve his life. He signed a pact with the devil in an attempt to improve his life. He requested that the devil give him omniscience, as well as what else one might expect a man to ask. However, this agreement would not be a one sided sword, nay. Faust agreed to part his soul in exchange for the world's knowledge and pleasures. When he died, he would suffer greatly. As we speak today, Faust is tortured in a fiery hell. You would think if he had omniscience, he would have been able to outwit the old red skinned demon. But alas, a plot hole is present. However, I assure you Vincent, there will be no plot hole in my world."

With that last monologue finished, Radiation turned around, and walked out of Vincent's wasteland and into the void which was Radiation's world. Before Vincent could say anything, the door shut behind the skeleton which produced a strange echoing sound as it closed tightly, never to open again. Vincent was about to walk towards the door but a voice from behind stopped him in his tracks just when he was about to take the first step forward.

"Vincent," a familiar, feminine tone stated in a firm manner.

The man in red immediately turned around, as did Pino, to see Re-L Mayer standing there before them with a curious yet harsh expression on her face. This Re-L did not have a scar on her face, for she had not come into contact with Brandon which was definitely a positive thing for her. "Who were you talking to? And what's that door doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Um, Re-L," Vincent began nervously as he scratched his head in a sheepish manner.

"We saw a skeleton," Pino blurted. "He was really nice to us, but he was mean to the other Vincent. He also taught us about a man named Faust," she smiled proudly.

Re-L turned back to Vincent and crossed her arms while lifting an eyebrow at him.

"Pino is just talking about something she read in a book," Vincent lied as he patted the mechanical girl on the head.

"Then who's voice was I hearing just now," asked Re-L. "The accent and overall demeanor was far too sophisticated to belong to either one of you two. So, who was it?"

"Nobody," Vincent muttered. "We were talking to nobody. Uh, come on. Let's go back to the ship before it grows darker than it already is."

Re-L was skeptical of Vincent's claims but she sighed and complied with his request.


	20. Faust

_Note: Finally, Redshift has ended. It took longer than I expected but I am glad this story is finished at long last. If you would like more of my Ergo Proxy works then either check out Neo Europe if you haven't already, or be on the look out for the final two stories I plan to write in this section of the sight which are called Quiet Town, and Ghiaccio. I hope you all enjoyed Redshift and I look forward to your final thoughts on the story._

* * *

**Faust**

Vincent Law woke up on the floor of the narration room. The room of origin. The room were all things are mentioned, yet nothing exists here. For it is a place outside of time which acts as a window for an audience of curious spectators. These spectators are nothing more than lost souls who desire entertainment to be injected in their boring and meaningless lives. Vincent was merely a clown or puppet who dances around on a stage of horrors. He is a tragic figure who is destined to be consumed by his own loneliness. He is the agent of misery in many ways.

Radiation abruptly stopped whatever he was doing off stage and walked up to Vincent, looming over him silently as if he were Vincent's personal tombstone. Vincent held his hand out to receive help from the green skeleton as he attempted to stand up yet Radiation never grabbed his hand. "Vincent," Radiation began. "Do you understand now? Do you see what I was trying to show you? Can you comprehend your own existence? Can you hear my voice and be able to decipher my words? Do you finally realize what you are, and where you are?"

"I do," Vincent sighed in a miserable and pathetic tone of voice. "I understand what it is you were saying. I am nowhere nor am I nothing to begin with. This was the place I was conceived yet I was conceived like no man. I was not created as a person, but as an idea. This place was nothing more than the environment to simulate me as an entity. To illustrate me as an idea, this place must exist as a stage for the onlookers. You are my creator, Radiation. You are also the person who created the narrator who is the one who describes my thoughts and actions to the onlookers. I do what he tells the audience, and what he tells the audience is what I do."

"Correct," Radiation confirmed. It took him a few minutes before the skeleton said anything else. He waited to see if Vincent would finally stand up but he did not appear to be willing to do such a thing at this time. He laid there with nothing to do other than exist for the sake of whatever Radiation wrote down. That fact alone was more than enough to make the idea of ever standing up again to be very unappetizing. "Now, I simply have to inquire," Radiation claimed. "With the knowledge of this world known. And with the fact that you have seen the strings which control your puppet-like body, what will you do now? Where will you go, knowing that it will forever be an action which has already been written on a previously blank parchment? Will you waste away in your apartment, all alone? Will you march up to the roof of this very building and jump off into a pit of oblivion? I, and the narrator already know what is going to happen. However, we both find ourselves very curious. Do you know what you will do now?"

Vincent finally sighed and forced himself to sit up in response. He stared at his feet for a few moments. He watched as one of the many red beams of light swimming around in the room, this one however drifted down to his feet and began orbiting him ever so slowly. "I'm going home," Vincent replied in a sorrowful voice. There's nothing else for me to do. There's nothing else that I want to do either. But before I go," Vincent stated as he stood up to his feet, the red bolt at his feet still orbiting around him constantly. "I have to ask you one thing." Radiation perked up, visibly signaling that he was indeed listening. "This very moment," Vincent groaned miserably. "From now until the moment I walked into this room. This genesis of your story, this point of origin. Was this also planned? Did you write all of this out right down to what I'm saying right now?"

"Yes it was," Radiation informed as he placed his hands behind his back in an expecting manner. "Everything you've done from birth to present day, and soon unto death was all my beautiful work. I wanted you to find this place even if I acted as if I did not when I was speaking to Mr. Karl Vagaer, the man who gave you that key to begin with. However, I originally wrote Redshift to be a unique story. I wrote it for the purpose of telling a story about a character who learns that he is the subject of a plot. You see, every story, let's take a fantasy for instance. Now, imagine a strong protagonist who becomes a knight. He then gathers a few supporting characters to help him as he embarks on a journey to slay a dragon. Yet, in reality, this is impossible. There is no such thing as a dragon, and what's even more mythical in the real world than a dragon is a hero. There has never been, nor will there ever be a hero, or a knight in shining armor. These books are created by authors acting as gods of the world they created. It emphasizes that the real world has no god and therefore it is meaningless, but we also see that the world of that fantasy story is even more meaningless because it is constantly toyed with by an all powerful god which is the author of the story. The same logic applies to Redshift. There is nothing sacred, nothing for you to protect for it is all fake. It is a lie, and a sadistic hoax. So to answer your original question, yes, this has all been foretold. It has all been written long before you came to this point. No matter what you do, you will be following the formula of my masterpiece. Now, is there anything else you would like to know?"

"No," Vincent groaned. "_Well_," he abruptly corrected himself as he thought of another question to ask the now infamous green skeleton. "There is one other thing," Vincent muttered. "I would like to know something and you seem to be the person to ask. Why is your story, and my world, called Redshift? Is it a reference to this room, I see all of these red lights swimming around. Or is it just a reference to my suit?"

"You will learn what the title means when you return to your apartment," Radiation claimed in a casual voice. He waited to see if Vincent would say something in response but no such words of acknowledgment came. Radiation soon grew bored with Vincent's being here in the narration room. Radiation then stepped aside, allowing Vincent to see the red door behind the skeleton. "If there is nothing left," Radiation murmured. "Then I think you should leave. I still have to finish organizing the chapters and place them all into the actual hardcover I had prepared. You should probably find something to do with the rest of your life. You have many years ahead of you. You're only in your twenties after all."

Radiation was about to allow Vincent to walk away but he abruptly thought of something which absolutely must be addressed. "Before you go," Radiation began. "I just realized that there are still a few small gaps in my plot which really need to be spoken on. To begin with, I shall tell you about Monad. Not only will I inform you as to how you know her, but I will tell you what her involvement in my story is. I will then tell you what Brandon truly was. I know you've met him several times now and I'm sure you don't like the lad very much but it is important that the audience knows these two things.

"Uh," Vincent stated in shock as he just realized that he completely forgot to ask about Monad, and he even wanted to know about Brandon but due to everything that has happened to him so far, he completely forgot about the both of them. "Alright."

"Monad was not my creation," Radiation surprisingly admitted. "I have nothing to do with her per se, but do you remember me speaking to you about the legend of Faust?" Vincent slowly nodded but did not say anything, this course of action allowed Radiation to continue speaking with ease. "I was not just rambling mindlessly, Vincent," Radiation informed. "I was giving an analogy to what Monad did. She died, she burnt alive when she foolishly attempted to fly towards the sun. She burnt to a crisp and fell straight to the earth. Her soul found its way to me and desperately pleaded for me to return her to you. I said that I would create an alternate world, starring you as the central figure and she would be invited to join the cast. She believed some of the admittedly, dishonest things I may have told her and agreed to this. In reality, Vincent, it is her fault that this world even exists. Redshift would have never become a reality. She sold both her soul and yours to me for the sake of her own desires and she is now feeling the consequences for her actions."

Vincent was slightly offended by Monad's deal with Radiation. Because of her, Redshift was now a reality. It was her fault that the place existed after all. Normally, he would never be able to accept such a thing as reality. What Radiation told him sounded almost like a lie, but I twas beginning to make far too much sense to be a mere fabrication of the truth. With this new found knowledge, at long last, he could clearly understand why Monad was acting so distressed when they met each other on the sky islands. She was rightfully taking the blame for something she caused all by herself.

"Now then, to convey the topic of Brandon to you in a way you might be able to understand clearly," Radiation informed. "He was an enigma to be sure. He was most certainly my creation. Monad, along with the real Re-L, Pino, and Vincent have been the only people you've seen so far which I did not create. Hell, even Karl Vagaer was my creation even if he refuses to accept the truth which backs such a statement. Anyway, Brandon was no exception to this. Every story needs some sort of antagonist within the forth wall. I know that I technically am both the author and the true antagonist but I exist outside of the forth wall, even now, you yourself are present beyond the invisible wall which lies between an audience and the stage. This very room is beyond the forth wall, and at the moment, since you too are in it, you are outside your own realm."

Radiation quickly turned away from Vincent and looked up to the ceiling. "Brandon was created by me to act as an in-story antagonist. An opposing force who exists to slow down your progress from reaching the goals of the actual plot. His job was simple, kill you and he would be released from the stage. He would no longer be a character in Redshift, I would allow him to live in the real world if he were to succeed."

"So, you tricked him," asked Vincent. "You deceived him just like you did Monad. You told him that if he did something you asked, he would receive freedom in exchange, whereas Monad made a deal with you which was equally dishonest. Brandon was trying to kill me because he believed whatever you threw at him? And by your choice of words and tone of voice, I'm guessing you weren't really going to give him what you promised."

"No, I was not," Radiation insisted with flat cadence in his tone.

"Now I'm confused," Vincent began with a confused state of mien. "Earlier you said that you dictated the actions of all the characters in your book. Yet now you're saying you have to trick one of them to do something you want them to do? That doesn't make any sense, if you truly controlled Redshift, then you would just write it out and he would do it naturally."

"I could have done that very easily," Radiation claimed. "I could have simply wrote down the actions and have the characters carry them out, but I did not. If I were to do something like that, the story would have no emotion. It would be bleak and bland. I needed to not only convey thoughts and emotions into the reader, but in the characters themselves. The story would fall weak in character development if I just told Brandon to kill you, but I did not give him motivation to do so, don't you agree?"

The young man in red lifted a curious eyebrow at the skeleton. "I don't think that's true," Vincent admitted. "I think you too might be a character in your own story. Are you truly the author of Redshift, or are you just another character?"

"I am indeed the author of the story," Radiation informed. "If I were not, then I would not have all of the contents written down already. I wrote all of this, although I will give you credit for trying to make me reconsider my own doings. Now, there is nothing left for you to know. I told you everything, unless you have any other questions, I would like for you to leave."

Vincent did not nod nor did he even look up to Radiation, he was to depressed to do anything other than walk out of this miserable excuse for a room. He could no longer bear the sight of seeing this place which tells the tale of his life, or at least of the important and interesting moments, such as this very interval of time which I highlight for you all. He slowly trotted off towards the door and reached out for the knob. Vincent turned it in a painfully slow manner before he finally pushed it opened and walked back out into the empty world from whence he came.

* * *

He would soon find his way to the old amusement park of Pripyat. The same amusement park in the same town he believed to belong to for so long, but how this has all become a fabrication of someone else's imagination. Vincent only wanted to walk through the park to take a shortcut to his apartment. It was completely dark outside due to the fact that nobody else was around to turn on the lights in the city. Vincent could only barely see the path in front of him but he did not seem to care at this point. He originally assumed he understood just who Radiation was, but that was simply not the case at all.

Vincent was under the assumption that Radiation was just an illusion in a world of lies. He was correct in assuming his environment was fraudulent, but wrong in assuming that Radiation was a simple lie as well, for Radiation was the liar, and he was technically the lie. Vincent kept moving through the amusement park with nothing else on his mind. He was not even reflecting on previous events, his mind was simply blank. It was as if he were a corpse walking around in one big morgue.

However, this morgue was far more depressing than what one would see in a hospital or police station. At least the subjects of an actual morgue forever asleep. They were given the gift of peaceful serenity. Vincent on the other hand could not have such a gift. He would be doomed to roaming around this useless town, not for the remainder of his life, but for all eternity. After all, if he is already trapped inside his own worst nightmare, in his own personal hell, then where is his soul suppose to go when he dies? The only answer is nowhere. This place appears to be punishment enough for him. The fact that he will never be able to interract with another person again was definitely taking its toll on him already. It was not like he could go back and visit Radiation anytime soon, or even I the narrator for that matter. When the old skeleton finishes working, he will leave this world forever and I will cease to exist. I will have a serenity of my own while Vincent will thrive in a lonely world of unbearable silence.

There was nothing different about the amusement park, nor would there ever be anything different about anywhere else in this small town which now acted as a prison for this pathetic young man. The only thing Vincent would be able to actively see change in this silent, cold, and dead world was slow decay. He would have plenty of time to watch this town become overgrown with plants and vines as mother nature reclaims this spot of the world. Soon there will be nothing left of this old town, even the very last brick will be broken down and return to the earth. An eon after that, nothing at all, not even nature will own this spot of ground, it will have been returned to the black void it was first born from. The same black void Vincent was born from. It would all return to the point of origin much like a common criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.

Vincent kept his eyes forward as he walked on and on like a lonely ghost roaming around in the graveyard its body was buried in. Vincent was growing as pale as ghost at this point. In many ways, he was not really alive but he was most certainly not dead either. He was in the twilight of existence which was the most miserable interval of time for a living creature to be trapped in. His slow pace was only making his trip more and more lengthy, and dragged out into what seemed to be an hour even though he had so far only been in the park for ten minutes or so. He then spotted the nearest exit to the park which would lead him to the one street he was oh so familiar with. The same street he would take twice every day, once when he would travel to work, and once when he would return home. Vincent headed off towards this gate as slow as a tortoise, but he would make it back home eventually.

He soon came to a stop just in front of the dual doors which marked the entrance to his familiar apartment complex. He stared at the doors for some time before he decided to enter the building at long last. Vincent trotted up the stairs towards the doors and pushed them open with ease. He headed inside and calmly shut the door behind himself.

Vincent walked towards the center of the main lobby and scanned the area for that same old staircase he would always take up to his floor. He quickly spotted it just behind a wooden door to his right. Vincent turned and headed over to the door. He opened it up and headed straight for the staircase without so much as shutting the door behind him.

He traveled up the stairs and soon came to another door with the label of the desired floor number. Vincent slowly pushed the metal door open. With a hopeless expression, he proceeded down the hall before he came to an abrupt stop as he noticed something in the distance. He did indeed spot his door but it had visibly changed since he had been gone. Previously, his door was solid white but now it appeared to be repainted. It was now completely coated in a layer of vivid red paint. Vincent rolled his eyes at the sight of the door and walked on.

Vincent soon arrived to the red door where he proceeded to slowly reach for the knob. He turned it to the right until he heard a click. Vincent then pushed the door open and prepared to head into his dark and lonely apartment but he was forced to halt his stride yet again as he noticed something new about his home. The walls, furniture, floors, ceilings, windows, objects, and even he himself were now given a deep reddish tint. His entire house was absorbed in this ominous and unexplained red hue. He quickly turned around to see the hallway outside was also tinted red just like his apartment.

"Redshift," Vincent muttered to himself in quiet monotone. While he finally figured out why the story was called Redshift, he could not bring himself to care about these simple details anymore. He truly did not care if the entire world turned red. It would prove to be a headache later but it was not like it mattered at this point. He then turned around and promptly shut the door behind himself.

The last man standing then headed towards the kitchen area. It was just as red as everything else in this apartment, in this city, in this entire world. He pulled out one of the chairs at the dining table and took a seat. Vincent placed his hands on the table and looked down to the wood. He listened for anything, anything at all. He waited to see if he could hear the sound of another person, whether it be a shout or honking of a car horn from the streets below, or a whisper in his ear from just over his shoulder yet nothing of the sort ever came his way.

It would not be too much longer before Vincent did abruptly hear a noise at long last. However, this noise would obviously not be made by a human. It did not come in the form of a gentle voice or a bloodcurdling scream, nor anything of that nature. Instead, Vincent looked up as he heard the flapping of wings in the distance. Before he could turn to his left which was the direction the sound was coming from, a familiar crow flew in front of his face and landed on the table in the space right in between his arms. It was the same crow which Vincent had seen so many times before. It was the exact same black bird that guided Vincent to Radiation's lair when nobody else was around to help him.

He gave a light smile with an almost hopeful glimmer in his eyes as he realized that this was the same crow which had been keeping an eye on him all this time. "Are you here to keep me company," he questioned in a sorrowful tone. He watched the crow for a few moments and in turn, the crow kept its eye on him. The two stared each other down for the longest time before Vincent suddenly realized what the crow was actually trying to accomplish by showing up here now of all times.

"Oh," Vincent sighed and nodded his head in understanding. "Are you here to say goodbye to me? That figures. I should have known that having a pet would be too good to be true. But before you go, I'll find something for you to eat." Vincent then attempted to stand up but as soon as he did, the crow flapped its wings frantically and flew away. Vincent followed it with his eyes as he watched it soar straight out the open window in the kitchen and towards the red skies above.

Vincent frowned at this. He would have at least liked for one living creature to stay with him but it would appear that the crow only wanted to give him a fond farewell. Now, the crow was forever gone, disappeared into the red abyss and never for Vincent to lay eyes on again.

In response to this abrupt goodbye, Vincent simply waved at the bird and returned to his seat. There was officially nothing left for him to do but sit here and wait. He could only wait for nothing, and he would receive nothing in exchange for his patience. He could say nothing as well, or at least, he could say something but he would drive himself crazy if he were to speak himself. He had nothing to do now but sit and reminisce about the past. He would only think about the times when he was not alone. In essence, was he truly alive at this point, or did he just transform into a ghost which was now trapped in a quiet purgatory until the end of time?

* * *

The crow flew high in the sky above the city of Pripyat. It traveled all the way to the large Ferris wheel in the amusement park. The crow slowed down and began descending as it neared the Ferris wheel. The black bird now trapped in a blood red world fluttered down to the very top of the stagnant amusement ride which was locked in time. The only thing on this Ferris wheel which was not stagnant would be a small bird's nest filled with several eggs which presumably belonged to the crow. The bird landed on the edge of the next and looked down to the assortment of eggs.

It took the crow a few moments before the animal broke its gazing at the eggs. For some reason, smoke began expanding outwards from the black feathers of the crow. Without warning, the bird then extended both of its wings and leaped into the air, where it proceeded to fly straight up towards the sky. The bird made it halfway in between the top of the Ferris wheel and a line of storm clouds when it abruptly caught on fire. The phoenix continued to soar upwards and burn alive until the flames finally reduced the body to mere ashes and dispatched. With the flames gone, the ashes fell back down to the earth, they sprinkled down onto the eggs where the cycle was most likely to repeat itself in the near future.

* * *

Radiation continued typing away on his typewriter with hopes of finishing his book which he called Redshift. Everything within the hub of this world was also already consumed by the red tint. Radiation himself was still green but the color of his bones were mostly colorized with the red tint that now absorbed everything. A few more minutes would pass before Radiation stood up from his typewriter and stretched his bony arms in the air, signifying to the world that he was done. "Well, Mr. Narrator," Radiation began, speaking to the only other person in the room even if neither he nor anyone else could actually see me.

"Are you finally finished, sir," I ask him, knowing that he had most likely completed his task by now. Radiation turned back to his typewriter and pulled the last page out of the machine. He then neatly placed it atop a stack of other identical pages which were stacked off just to the right of the typewriter. He then lifted his right arm and patted the stack of pages with approval.

"Why, yes I am," Radiation confirmed with a prideful tone of voice. "I still have to proof read it and do last minute editing, organizing, and all of that other nonsense but that will be no problem at all. I have constructed this world from beginning to end. I played with it in many cases but for the most part, I feel as if I did well. I hope I did at least. This art will forever be associated with me and for that, I think my magnificent mind for conceiving these ideals. I have created a world which is both rational and inhumane. That combination is quite simply magnificent in working form. I am proud of my work and I am now ready to show it to my colleagues."

"That is good to hear," I tell him reassuringly, knowing that my time in this world was also coming to an end. No longer will I be forced to describe the actions of a hopeless protagonist to an attentive audience, for there will be no audience soon enough. My duty was almost finished, and with my duty, I too will be finished.

"You know," Radiation began with an index finger pointed in the air. "Literature once asked me why I was making a tragedy. He wondered why I had not grown attached to the characters I have created enough to let them live happy lives towards the end of Redshift. I laughed at the questions. How could I care about you? For you people are not real. You thrive and exist only in the pages of my book. You are only here to entertain. Your misery is what makes this story beautiful. I simply cannot grow attached to a group of miserable homunculi."

"Is this goodbye, sir," I inquire him in monotone.

"Yes, my dear narrator," Radiation stated as he grabbed the stack of pages and began walking towards the same door Vincent used to see the real world and the person his character was based on. He opened the door to reveal the dark wasteland outside. Unlike the world he was currently in, the wasteland was not tinted the color of blood, but it was dark and hopeless just like my world.

Radiation knelt down and placed the stack of pages on the ground just outside of the door, as soon as they left this world and entered the next, they too lost their red tint as well as Radiation. The skeleton then turned back and reached inside the room towards a light switch just next to the door. He placed his right index finger over it, preparing to flip the switch. "Good night, Redshift," Radiation muttered in a peaceful voice. "I will not be returning."

"Goodbye, Radiation," I say to him with a hint of relief in my cadence. "And goodnight to you as well."

With that, Radiation turned the lights in this nexus of a room off. The world seemed to shut down, the red bolts of light and red tint also turned pitch black. The only light present in the room, came from an ironically dark world just behind the green skeleton. I too shut down, but as I fall into an eternal sleep, the last thing I hear is the creaking of the door as Radiation closes it shut, forever.

**FIN**

* * *

**Characters:**

Narrator~ The narrator is an omnipresence and omniscient entity which watches over the actions of the different characters of the story and takes note of them. Not only does the narrator describe their actions, but it also can easily sense their emotions and thoughts as well. The narrator is nothing more than an annalist who creates a story for the audience, however, its words do not come without bias. The narrator is extremely opinionated and will often lie or exaggerate events to make certain characters and events look horrific while others may be portrayed as angelic. However, the narrator is always correct in its analysis of situations and will only shift details to sway public opinion rather than to blatantly lie to the audience.

Vincent Law~ Vincent has black hair and vivid green eyes. He wears an odd little uniform as well. Vincent is a pathetic individual who continuously whines at all times. He is cowardly in nature until he begins to lose all hope towards the middle point of the story. He then proceeds to resent the people around him. However, towards the end of the story, when Vincent finally realizes how lonely his future existence will be, he begs for Re-L to miraculously return to him. Vincent soon gives up on his hopes of ever seeing another soul again and accepts that he will be alone to the very end of his days.

Re-L Mayer~ Re-L is usually seen wearing a more gothic style of clothing. She wears a black and dark purple outfit with an all black overcoat. To match her clothing, she has shoulder length black hair along with blue eyes. She also wears blue eyeshadow even though such a form of make up is not actually very stylish at all. Dispute her attractive appearance, Re-L Mayer is a rather disgusting human being to say the very least. She is spoiled to a horrific degree and is very controlling of her own environment. There is no redeeming quality about Re-L because she remains as immature as a spoiled child throughout the story. She acts to be very strong willed and independent, but in reality she is neither of these two things. She is a weak and pitiful entity who will never change from this type of personality.

Pino~ Pino is a young child who is often seen wearing a rabbit outfit. She has odd purple hair and Wehrmacht-gray eyes. She is by nature a very innocent and joyous soul. Pino remains unfazed by the events around her for the simple purpose that she either does not know what is happening or what these events are suppose to signify. Pino seems to be completely blind to her surroundings throughout the entire story regardless of how many times the other people in this world attempts to warn her that nothing good can come out of existing here. To the very end of her life, Pino is smiling with unyielding optimism.

Vladimir Malikov~ Vladimir is a former member of the Militsiya until he is left behind during the evacuation of Pripyat. He grows to resent the communists by painting a swastika on his mask to symbolize his new allegiance to National Socialism after he was left behind in the poisoned town. As a result, he despises Re-L just as everyone else grows to do. He is an irritable individual who remains frustrated until the end. Vlad seems quick to give up in a hopeless situation which is a result of his basic common sense telling him when all hope should be lost.

Radiation~ The infamous Radiation is a skeleton who is the 'supposed' author of Redshift. His bones are green and he wears a black suit. Radiation is a calm and charming individual. He seems completely absorbed into his work and allows the world around him to fade away when he is busy writing his story. Radiation is also extremely detached from the world he has created. He has no problem with destroying it even if it was by his creation. Radiation also appears to have some sadistic qualities to his personality as he enjoys seeing his characters experience pain.

Brandon~ Brandon his a silent individual who wears a red hooded jacket, black pants, and a solid white tragedy mask over his face. He carries a bow saw as a weapon. Nothing at all can be said about Brandon's personality since he remains an enigmatic mystery throughout the story. However, it is known that Brandon was working as the story's antagonist by the request of Radiation. The green skeleton fooled him by telling him that if he were to play the roll of the 'bad guy,' Radiation would set him free from the world of Redshift. Brandon died believing in Radiation's deceptive words.

Monad~ Monad wears an odd white outfit which matches her solid white hair. She also has visibly amber eyes. Monad looks very similar in appearance to Re-L were it not for the hair and eye colors along with the fact that Monad is a tolerable human to be around whereas Re-L is nothing of the sorts. She is kind in nature but appears to be rather gullible as she falls for one of Radiation's lies which in turn, does indeed cause the birth of Redshift.

Communication~ The entity named Communication is a creature which looks identical in appearance to a mailbox. This mailbox has a human foot attached to the end of his wooden support beam along with a human eye in the mailbox itself. Communication is a polite and slightly protective creature. He finds and helps Pino when she is trapped in the ice caverns, and again when he finds her lost in the wheat fields. Communication appears to be a self sacrificing entity as well. Regardless of the fact that he may not want to guide Pino through the wheat for all eternity, he nearly does this just to ensure this young girl remains safe and out of harm's way.

Karl Vagaer~ Karl has brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a hat along with casual clothes and a green coat. Karl was created by Radiation for the soul purpose of giving Vincent the red key. Karl believes he is independent from Radiation despite the fact that he is doing exactly what Radiation had intended he would do. Karl is polite to some people, for instance, he is very friendly to Vincent. However, he is not so nice to Re-L and even threatens to slap her when she begins acting up around him. It remains unclear what happened to Karl but knowing Radiation, he was probably erased from the world of Redshift just to tie up loose ends in the plot.

Literature~ Literature is an ominous entity with the body of a man and the head of one large eyeball. His body is covered in a ceremonial robe while his eye is usually covered by the hood of the robe. Literature is a friend of Radiation's and exists outside the world of Redshift. He acts as a symbol of art and writing. Literature delves in and out of the Redshift with hopes of helping Radiation as he continues to write out his little book.

Charisma~ Charisma is a skeleton who also wears a suit, similar to Radiation. Charisma however, is not very supportive of the green skeleton or of his 'art.' Charisma remains a very cynical person and this is only demonstrated with his interactions with Radiation.

Culture~ Culture is a feminine skeleton who wears a classy red dress. She is kindhearted and is very supportive of Radiation's work. She remains ignorant to what it truly entails. Culture sees Charisma's attitude towards Redshift as general paranoia while she on the other hand views it as a great achievement.

Religion~ Religion is also a skeleton, although not much is known about him except for his zealous behavior. Religion does not seem to care about Radiation or Redshift for that matter. He is only focused on himself as a direct result of his detachment from the situations at hand.

Philosophy~ Philosophy is very similar to Religion. He too is a skeleton and like Religion, he does not seem to care about Redshift. It is a situation which does not concern him and as a result, Philosophy leaves it at that and nothing more.

Gatekeeper~ The Gatekeeper is an entity who claims to watch over the entrance to Hell. He is a man who as been molded into the trunk of a tree. He exists at the entrance to Hell for all eternity and welcomes the sinners as they go forth to meet their doom. The Gatekeeper is a hopeless entity who depressingly sits there, all alone for an eternity. He remembers much of the different people who use to visit him, replaying these memories in his head is the only way for him to keep himself entertained in the empty realm he lives in.

Crow~ The crow is nothing more than a black bird which follows Vincent around and spectates over his journey. Towards the end of the story, the bird appears to help guide Vincent when he is all alone. Then, the crow bids goodbye to Vincent and flies off into oblivion, leaving Vincent all by himself in the end.


End file.
